Van Oord’s newest addition to its fleet, the self-propelled cutter suction dredger Artemis, will be moored in Rotterdam until 14 April 2013.
Business relations and employees will have the opportunity to visit Artemis before it departs for western France for its first assignment.
Pursuant to a contract with the Grand Port Maritime de la Rochelle, Artemis will be deepening the harbour basin and dredging a trench in the access channel to the harbour. Approximately 500,000 cubic metres of very hard rock and clay will be dredged, and Artemis was built especially for dredging work on hard ground.
The contract for the vessel’s design, construction and delivery was signed with IHC Merwede on 20 December 2010.
Pieter van Oord, CEO said: ‘ Our investment in two self-propelled cutter suction dredgers and two large backhoe dredgers has significantly bolstered our position on the dredging market. This is in line with our strategy to have a very strong position in all segments of the dredging market.’
Artemis is a robust ship and strong ship. An exceptional feature is its hydraulically buffered spud carriage, which will permit it to continue to work even in poor weather conditions. Air springs that have been installed under the deck house are also special. They will minimise noise and vibration. ‘It is very important to us that our employees have a pleasant work environment’, says Pieter van Oord.
Artemis is a sister vessel to Athena, which was delivered at the end of 2011.
Van Oord added: ‘ Building two similar ships will significantly improve the efficiency of our operations.’
Athena is currently being successfully deployed on the Ichthys LNG project in Darwin, Australia.
Primary specifications – Artemis
Type: Self-propelled cutter suction dredger
Length: 131.5 metres
Breadth: 27.80 metres
Total installed capacity: 24,650 kW
Diameter of discharge pipe: 1,000 millimetres
Maximum dredging depth: 32.4 metres
Accommodation: 50 people.
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Press Release, April 12, 2013