DEME’s new dual fuel trailing suction hopper dredger ‘Scheldt River’ was successfully bunkered with Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) at Brunsbüttel Ports yesterday.
Approximately 85 tonnes of the environmentally friendly fuel was loaded, making this the largest LNG bunkering operation in Germany so far, and this was the first LNG bunkering of a hopper dredger as well.
The bunker supplier, Nauticor GmbH & Co. KG of Hamburg, a member of the Linde Group, delivered the fuel in five trucks, two of which were unloaded simultaneously.
River Elbe maintenance dredging
Nordsee Nassbagger- und Tiefbau GmbH, DEME’s subsidiary in Germany, is a partner in a consortium contracted by the water authority Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsamt Cuxhaven to perform maintenance dredging works on the river Elbe between Cuxhaven and Wedel in the period 2017-2019.
The deployment of the TSHD ´Scheldt River’, which is scheduled for a period of about half a year, enables DEME to gather experience and knowledge about all the technical and economic aspects related to operating a dredging vessel powered by LNG.
Christopher Iwens, General Manager of DEME’s German subsidiaries , said: “ Being awarded the contract to maintain the fairway of the river Elbe towards Hamburg – Germany’s largest port – at the correct depth with the LNG powered TSHD ‘Scheldt River’, shows DEME’s leading position in the industry and sets the next milestone for new environmental standards for the whole dredging industry.”
Dredging fleet investment program
‘Scheldt River’ was built at the Royal IHC shipyard in the Netherlands. The new vessel is part of DEME’s multi-year fleet investment program, which is focused on further increasing efficiency, both in terms of productivity and environmental performance.
Environmentally friendly hopper dredgers like the ‘Scheldt River’ and ‘Minerva’ are extremely suitable for dredging and deepening works in emission controlled areas, DEME said.
In the next two years the dredging fleet will be further reinforced with the TSHD ‘Bonny River’ (2018) and the cutter suction dredger ‘Spartacus’ (2019).