Van Oord’s new hydraulic backhoe dredger Simson christened

Hydraulic backhoe dredger Simson was christened Saturday at the Wilhelmina Quay in Rotterdam. The christening ceremony was performed by Mrs D. van Dam-van der Meer, wife of Mr Bart van Dam, who resigned as managing director of MerweOord (the Van Oord family business) on 1 December last. The Simson is a Backacter 1100 – a floating excavator with three spud poles fitted to a pontoon – and the largest category of hydraulic dredging crane in the world. It was designed and built in the Netherlands and will be used to dredge ports and provides services to the offshore industry worldwide.