Izar delivers electric dredger

French owner GIE Dragages Ports has taken delivery of a hopper dredger with electric propulsion. The 5,000m3 trailing suction hopper dredger was built at Spanish shipbuilding group Izar?s yard in Gijon, northern Spain. It is called Daniel Laval.

Daniel Laval is intended to operate in water depths ranging from 1 to 3m under the keel and will work in France, mainly in the Seine river estuary and in Dunkerque.

The power plant consists of two Wärtsilä 9L26A engines. These each power Alstom electric motors, which provide drive to two controllable pitch propellers. One transverse thruster at the bow has been installed in order to facilitate manoeuvring.

Jacques Paul, a director at GIE Dragages Ports, is reported to have said that, from the shorlisted shipbuilders comprising France?s Chantiers de l?Atlantique, IHI Calland in The Netherlands and the Gijon yard, the Spanish offer was technically superior although not the lowest in cost terms.

The dredger is equipped to perform a number of differing tasks including trailing dredging operations with the starboard suction pipe whether in channels or alongside quays, hopper bottom dumping through valves, drainage of water in the hopper before filling with discharge to the sea and low density mixture direct discharge to the sea.

The vessel is fitted with a trailing side suction pipe on starboard and bottom valves for load dumping. The dredge pump is driven by one of the propulsion diesel engines through a reduction gear and the dredging operational availability is superior to 7,000 hours per year.

The accommodation deckhouse and the wheelhouse are located at the bow of the ship and contain 19 single cabins although the ship owner expects to employ 16 crew on board. A machinery deckhouse is located at the stern of the ship.

Daniel Laval is the first of two dredgers GIE Dragages Ports contracted for with Izar?s Gijon yard.