Van Oord: New generation of hybrid water injection vessels

The naming ceremonies have been held for two hybrid water injection vessels – Maas and Mersey. The event took place yesterday at the Van Oord head office jetty in Rotterdam.

Ms Karin Schinagl, wife of Managing Director Netherlands Ronald Schinagl, named the vessel Maas. Ms Karien van Oord performed the naming ceremony for the Mersey.

The Maas and Mersey represent the new generation of hybrid water injection vessels. This new vessel type is versatile and has water injection dredging, mass flowing and power jetting systems.

“Water injection dredging is an efficient and environmentally friendly way of maintaining the depth of navigation channels, ports, marinas and rivers. For over 30 years Van Oord has been using this technique all around the world,” the company said.

The latest technological developments have been applied to both vessels, such as active heave compensation and dynamic positioning, which means that the dredging can be pre-programmed to a great extent and performed more efficiently.

Thanks to the maneuverability and very limited draught, the vessels are perfectly suitable for maintenance dredging in shallow harbours, according to Van Oord.

At the same time, they can dredge up to 24 metres water depth and are certified as unrestricted seagoing vessels.

The energy management of both vessels was given special attention.

Both vessels are equipped with a hybrid energy management system.

Consequently, the vessels can store energy in batteries from residual heat that is normally lost. This energy is subsequently used for purposes including propulsion. Diesel-electric engines will reduce CO2 emissions.

The new water injection vessels will comply with the new IMO TIER III legislation for reducing NOx emissions and take account of EU STAGE V legislation.

The vessels were delivered by Kooiman Marine Group in Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands.