€200million orders for Dutch group

IHC Merwede has contracted with Subsea 7 for the design, engineering and construction of a new advanced pipelaying vessel, which will have an overall length of 146m, a beam of 30m and a DP2 system. IHC Merwede says it was selected due to its reliability and efficiency with four previous orders. This latest vessel will be used to develop deep-sea oilfields off the coast of Brazil on behalf of Petrobras.

In the USA, IHC Merwede has been successful in securing an agreement for a trailing suction hopper dredger of 6,540m³ capacity for Weeks Marine. Weeks has ordered an engineering and components package from IHC Merwede, while its partner in the USA, BAE Systems, is contracted to build the vessel, which is of length 109m and beam of 24m.

Chinese company Zheijang Dredging, has ordered an advanced environmentally friendly deep-water cutter suction dredger, optimised to work in polluted lake and reservoir dredging projects. The Beaver 4040 is claimed to be the first cutter suction dredger designed for sustainable dredging to a depth of 40m. The eco-friendly dredger will be built at the components factory of IHC China Support in Guangzhou.

Some of IHC Merwede’s business units have also acquired orders for specialist equipment, including a carousel-lay system for Royal Boskalis Westminster, which will be manufactured, assembled and tested in IHC China Support’s components factory in Guangzou.

IHC Merwede president Govert Hamers says, “The recent successes in developing our business show that IHC Merwede’s reputation as the technology innovator remains intact. Our customers continue to value the reliability and efficiency of our products and services. With these orders in place, IHC Merwede is already on track to achieve its sales targets for this year.”