HIGH-SPEC TRAILER DREDGER FROM US YARD

The award to the Keppel AmFELS yard at Brownsville, Texas, is the latest in a series of dredger orders placed under US Jones Act provisions with the US shipbuilding industry this year, and calls for a vessel of 15,000yd3 hopper capacity, equivalent to some 11,500m3.

The newbuild has been specified with diesel-electric power and propulsion, on main dimensions of 420ft (128m) length, 81ft (24.7m) breadth, and 28.5ft (8.7m) draught, and constitutes the single biggest investment in Manson’s 115-year history.

She is due to be ready for service by the spring of 2023, and will support the US Army Corps of Engineers in its national programme of channel maintenance. Deployment is expected to be primarily along the Atlantic and Gulf seaboards. Trailing suction hopper dredgers are mainly used for bringing up loose and soft soils such as sand, gravel, silt or clay, by way of a pipe located in a trunnion connection on the hull side and incorporating a high-throughput pump.

The dredge will be constructed to ABS class, and is based on a design developed by Seattle consultancy Hockema Whalen Myers Associates in collaboration with Manson’s own engineering and operational teams. Financing of the project is through a US Bank-led syndicate. The vessel will be named Frederick Paup, after Manson’s board chairman, and will be registered under the US flag with a US crew.

The deal augments the Jones Act workload of Keppel AmFELS, and strengthens Manson’s longstanding relationship with Hockema Whalen Myers, forged through more than two decades of work on hopper dredger design and other engineering assignments.

The latest project attests to the continuing business diversification of Keppel AmFELS. Part of Singaporean group Keppel Offshore & Marine, the Brownsville yard was established in 1990 as a specialist in the building and repair of offshore rigs and platforms. Its US$400m contract in 2017 from Pasha Hawaii Transport Lines for two dual-fuel containerships represented a major departure in production. Both 2,525TEU vessels are fitting out, and are scheduled to enter the Hawaii/US mainland trade lane this year.

The vessel type represented in Manson’s order is also significant in the context of recent output by the shipbuilder’s parent organisation. Three 3,500m3 hopper-capacity trailing suction dredgers were delivered last year by Keppel Nantong in China to Belgian contractor Jan De Nul, which has since also commissioned two 6,000m3 sisters from the Singapore yard. The latter’s orderbook currently includes three 10,500m3 ‘trailers’ for Van Oord of the Netherlands.

The record-breaking US ‘trailer’ continues the uptick in dredger building in the USA. In June this year, the country’s largest provider of dredging services, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation, placed a 6,500m3 newbuild with Conrad Shipyard of Louisiana. This followed the award of another trailing suction hopper dredger of similar carrying capacity, at 6,540m3, to Eastern Shipbuilding Group of Florida by Weeks Marine. Suited for capital dredging schemes and beach nourishment, the highly automated Weeks Marine vessel has been designed by Royal IHC, which is supplying the main dredge components.

Royal IHC has also been contracted to design and build a water injection dredger for the North Carolina State Ports Authority. The vessel will have the capability to dredge at depths of up to 16.7m, and will be constructed at an as yet unnamed US yard under Jones Act stipulations.