When You Spend A €Billion
Rotterdam-based Van Oord’s expanding its already large dredging fleet – and it kicked off 2010 with delivery of two exceptional vessels, writes Bert Visser
They’re the trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) Vox Máxima, handed over by IHC Merwede on 21 January, and the Backacter 1100 Simson, built by Vlissingen-based Shipyard De Donge.
Both are essential parts of an ambitious €1Bn newbuilding programme that runs to 2011 and both have been garnering admiration from press and public alike, as they’ve been jointly moored at the Wilhelminakade (Wilhelmina Quay) in the centre of Rotterdam to give people a chance to view modern dredgers – and I was one of the 5,000 or so who took the opportunity to do just that.
Vox Máxima
With a length of 203m and a hopper capacity of 31,200m3, Vox Máxima’s the largest dredger ever built in the Netherlands. As DPC noted at her launch (June 2009 issue), she constituted a real challenge for IHC’s engineers, who worked with a design based on building the largest possible hopper capacity that the shipyard in Kinderdijk could take.
That 31,200m3 hopper capacity makes Vox Máxima Van Oord’s second-largest TSHD after HAM 318 (she was lengthened in 2008 and today has a hopper capacity of 37,500m3). Vox Máxima’s impressive tally of main specs includes total installed power of 31,156kW, of which most is delivered by the two MAN 12V 48/60B main engines, each rated at 14,400kW and delivering both propulsion and dredging power.
For propulsion power, Vox Máxima’s equipped with two controllable-pitch propellers that are driven directly by the main engines via a propulsion gearbox and give her a loaded speed of 17kt. For dredging power, the entire dredging process is electrically driven via twin 12,800kVA generators installed in the aft engine room that are driven by the main engines through power take-offs on the propulsion gearboxes. And her dredging equipment includes:
- A single 1,400mm-diameter suction pipe with an underwater pump driven by a 6,000kW electric motor. In her current configuration, Vox Máxima can dredge to a maximum depth of 70m, but provisions have been made to accommodate a longer suction pipe that will enable her to reach an impressive 130m
- One inboard pump, installed in the aft pump room and driven by a 6,650kW electric motor
- A second (booster) pump, installed on deck near the accommodation block in the ship’s bow – it’s identical to the inboard pump and is also driven by a 6,650kW electric motor
- Two 1,500kW ele ...