New IHC dredger for Van Oord

The vessel is being built for Van Oord and is one of the largest cutter suction dredgers ever built in The Netherlands for a Dutch dredging company.

Artemis is the result of a design and build project, which has so far lasted for 18 months, signed between Van Oord and IHC Dredgers, part of IHC Merwede, back on 20 December 2010. The vessel is due for delivery in the first half of 2013.

The name of the vessel is consistent with Van Oord’s tradition of naming its cutter suction dredgers after legends in Greek mythology. Artemis is known as the goddess of the hunt.

A particularly interesting feature of this vessel is the spud carriage with hydraulic buffering which makes it possible to work for longer periods in bad weather. Much attention has been paid to the ergonomic design of Artemis – for example, the deckhouse will be mounted on air springs to minimise noise and vibrations in the accommodation section.

The dredger has an overall length of 131.5m, a breadth of 27.8m and total installed power of 24,650kW. It has a suction pipe diameter of 1,000mm and a maximum dredging depth 25.8m (50°) / 32.4m (60°).

Its sister ship Athena was delivered to Van Oord at the end of 2011 and has since been successfully utilised on various projects.