Kooiman Marine Group wins Van Oord order for two dredgers

6 juli 2022

Van Oord has again awarded Kooiman Marine Group an order for two Water Injection Dredgers (WID). This order follows the previously successful deliveries of the ‘Maas’ and the ‘Mersey’. Delivery is scheduled for the first half of 2024. The WID’s ‘Maas’ and ‘Mersey’ WIDs were delivered in mid-2021 and have been in continuous operation since then. It partly was the good performance of both vessels and the constructive cooperation during building that led Van Oord to award Kooiman Marine Group this follow-up order. “The experience with the first two vessels motivated several changes applying to this subsequent order,” explains Peter Bijkerk, Project Manager on behalf of Van Oord.  “The most notable modifications involve a larger accommodation, more battery power and the fendering. These modifications will increase the vessel’s deployability still further.” In the design of the ‘Maas’ and the ‘Mersey’ extensive attention was devoted to optimising the vessels’ energy consumption and operation, thus reducing CO2 emissions. The ‘Maas’ and ‘Mersey’ were developed by Kooiman Engineering in close cooperation with Van Oord. Two electrically driven pumps force water through the U-shaped water injection pipe located at the rear of the vessel. This pipe injects water into the bottom, loosening sediment which is carried away by the current. Several water-injection methods are available, giving the vessels optimum deployability. The vessels measure 43.07 x 12.40 metres (length and width including the water injection pipe) and have a draught of 3.40 metres. The enlarged battery pack enables the diesel engines in the new dredgers to be utilised optimally, increasing fuel efficiency, and greatly reducing the emissions of harmful substances and annoying noise. “In fact, the noise levels were already fine,” notes Maarten Kooiman, Project Leader on behalf of Kooiman Marine Group. “During the trial run with the ‘Maas’ and the ‘Mersey’, noise levels in the accommodation and wheelhouse turned out to be so low that we could virtually comply with the highest possible noise requirements of the classification society, despite the fact that this was not a requirement.”