The Jose Duarte: first hopper dredger entirely built at a Portuguese yard for a Portuguese contractor
Recently the Jose Duarte started its first mining job in Lisbon. The trailing suction hopper dredger has been built in Portugal for a Portuguese dredging company, to a Spanish design and using Dutch dredging equipment. The European cooperation has resulted in a customised dredger performing above expectations on her first job, DAMEN said in a press release.
Portugal has a long coastline and a number of busy navigable rivers – an excellent backdrop for the dredging company Inersel. When Inersel required an addition to its fleet, its preference was to acquire it within its home country. As a result, the company formed a team with West-Sea, an all-round shipyard in the north of Portugal. Carceller, an experienced naval architect located just across the Spanish border, carried out the design of the split hopper dredger. The dredging equipment was sourced from DAMEN Dredging Equipment in the Netherlands.
This successful international cooperation has resulted in the delivery of a 1,045m3 split hopper dredger, 73 metres long and with a beam of 11.4 metres. The hopper dredger has been fitted out with a Ø500 millimetre trailing suction pipe, which can work using various configurations. As the dredging depth can reach up to 40 metres, the trailing pipe can be lengthened and the gantries and winches relocated in the gangway to optimise performance for each dredging job.
The split hopper has been designed with a wide array of dredging assignments in mind. The in-board DAMEN dredge pump type BP5045MD can both deliver spoil to the hopper hold and empty the hold by pumping the cargo ashore via a bow coupling unit. The hopper is fitted with two overflows to optimise the loading performance, and the loading process is monitored by dedicated dredging instrumentation.
The Jose Duarte began dredging as soon as she left the yard, on a maintenance job nearby. To boost her efficiency in maintenance jobs, she has a degassing system on board. That assignment plus some mining contracts near Lisbon have demonstrated the value that the Jose Duarte has on offer – a worthy addition to the Portuguese dredging fleet.
About Inersel
Inersel is a full-service Portuguese dredging company that also offers a range of other maritime services. The company, founded in 1985, undertakes bulk sand mining on various Portuguese rivers and public works including maintenance projects throughout the country.
About WestSea
West Sea is a shipyard located in Viana do Castelo, North of Portugal. Created by the Martifer Group in 2013, the company is the current sub-concessionary of the lands and infrastructures of the former ENVC – Estaleiros Navais de Viana do Castelo. The shipyard is one of the most important industrial infrastructures in Portugal, with docking capacity for large and medium size ships. It is equipped with workshops and lifting devices for the construction of large modules and equipment. With a total area of 250,000 sqm, the shipyard has the facilities to undertake shipbuilding, conversions and ship repair of any type of vessel up to 37,000 tonnes, 190 metres in length and 29 metres across, as well as small and medium-sized vessels.
About Carceller
FAUSTINO CARCELLER S.L. is a naval architecture office, specialized since 1988 in providing cConsultancy and naval architecture services. Over more than 25 years they have designed more than 300 new vessels, from conceptual and basic design to the detailed engineering. Moreover, the company manages conversions, finding solutions to improve vessels’ performance, capacity and security.
About DAMEN Dredging Equipment:
Damen Dredging Equipment is a specialised supplier of dredging equipment and dredging instrumentation & automation. Fully owned by Damen Shipyards Group and based in Nijkerk, the Netherlands, the company has over 75 years of experience in the construction of dredging equipment serving the worldwide dredging industry. The dredging tools are all built to specific customer requirements, making use of a wide range of standard equipment.
