The New Generation

 

 After a gap of 20 years, during which no new UK aggregate dredgers were built, the first step towards a new generation of dredgers was taken by Hanson Aggregates Marine when, in January 2017,  the board of Heidelberg Cement gave approval for a £70 million investment in two new dredgers.

The new ships, which were due to enter service in 2019, were to carry 5,500 tonnes of aggregate, be of a bespoke design which would provide improvements in fuel consumption, reliability and CO2 emissions.

The Hanson project team visited shipyards in the Netherlands, Eastern Europe and China before settling on the Dutch shipbuilder Barkmeijer who would build the ships at their Stroobos yard in the Netherlands.

Unfortunately, with two partly completed hulls in their yard, one nearly ready to be floated out, Barkmeijer was declared insolvent due to historic bad debt. In time, Barkmeijer was able to complete the two ships which were purchased by the Dutch building firm De Hoop Terneuzen.

Whilst Hanson was having it’s difficulties with Barkmeijer, on 2^nd January 2018 CEMEX UK Marine signed up Damen Shipyards to build their new dredger which was to be named the mv Cemex Go Innovation which name must surely not have been dreamt up by a mariner who could only too well imagine the fun and games port controls, pilots and other ships would have with it. GO’s keel was laid in Mangalia on 11^th October 2018 and floated out on 1^st August 2019. She left Constanta for Amsterdam on 22^nd December 2019 where she arrived on 7^th January 2020.

Meanwhile Hanson was compelled to find another shipbuilder for their new buildings and on 10^th May 2019 signed up with the Damen Shipyard Group to build aship at their Galati yard in Romania.

Damen’s new dredger design was termed MAD for ‘Marine Aggregate Dredger’ with the Cemex and Hanson ships both being the MAD 3500 model.

All three ships were built with the revolutionary X Bow (as in Axe Bow) devised by the Norwegian Ulstein Group which was know for their safe, reliable and operable designs.

The X Bow’s sea keeping qualities and related benefits were first included in the offshore supply vessel Bourbon Orca which was awarded Norway’s Ship Of The Year for 2007.

 

 

                                   AHTS Bourbon Orca with her innovative X Bow

 

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Damen’s MAD 3500  Cemex & Hanson new buildingsDredging depth (m) 55

Hopper capacity (m³) 3500

Deadweight (t) 7000

Trailing pipe diameter (mm) 700

Total installed power (kW) 4400

‘The MAD 3500 is one of Damen’s dedicated aggregate dredgers. This innovative, standard design is future proof and boasts excellent sea keeping. An optimised hull design and the enclosed bow shape ensures that these vessels can operate in harsh weather conditions, and protect the sand and gravel from water ingress. Our in-house designed draghead, underwater pump and screening towers ensure efficient dredging operations. The vessel is also able to autonomously unload the dry cargo ashore’.

Specifications

Dimensions Lenght 103.25 mBeam moulded 16.40 mDraught dredging 7.00 mHopper volume (top coaming) 3500 m³

Performances      Speed (At summer draught) 13.2 kn   Dredging depth 55 m

 

                                       MV  CEMEX GO INNOVATION

Cemex Go Innovation was launched at Damen’s Galati shipyard in September 2020 and delivered to Cemex UK Marine on 15^th December 2020.

 

 

                                             MV HANSON THAMES

 

On September 20th 2018 the keel of the first Hanson dredger, MV Hanson Thames, was laid at Damen Shipyard’s Galati yard when the tradition of including four coins in the keel (Romanian lei, British pound, Dutch guilder and a Euro) was observed