A new custom-built cutter suction dredger destined for the Panama Canal has been launched by IHC Merwede on Monday 6 September. The 12,000kW vessel has been designed and built by IHC Beaver Dredgers at its Sliedrecht shipyard in The Netherlands for the Panama Canal Authority* (ACP – the Panama Government’s autonomous agency).

QUIBIÁN I was named and launched before invited guests at Sliedrecht, and will now be completed to IHC Merwede’s exacting quality standards. The vessel will be delivered to ACP in April 2011, within the schedule agreed when the contract was signed in March 2008.