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IHC Merwede Receives 300 Million In Dredge Orders

IHC Merwede has received orders for the construction of two large trailing suction hopper dredges (TSHD) and eight medium-sized cutter suction dredges. The TSHDs will be delivered to the Yangtze Estuary Waterway Administration Bureau in China. Three of the cutter dredges are for the Adani Group in India and five cutter dredgers are for a Chinese client.

The two TSHDs for the Yangtze Estuary Waterway Administration Bureau are identical and have a hopper capacity of 12000 cubic meters. The first ship will be built at IHC Dredgers in Kinderdijk and completion is planned for the first six months of 2012.

The second ship will be built under the supervision of International Dredgers Heusden (IDH) at a foreign construction site. Completion is planned for early 2013. IHC Merwede established IDH in early 2008 to build turnkey ships at suitable locations outside the company’s own yards.

The three identical IHC Beaver 6522 cutter suction dredges for India have been fitted out comprehensively with anchor booms and an integrated spud carrier. The ships can dredge to a maximum depth of 22 meters and each has a discharge pipeline with a diameter of 650 mm. They will be built at IHC Beaver Dredgers in Sliedrecht and completion is planned for 2009. The Adani Group is involved in harbor development and infrastructure projects throughout the world. Their fleet already includes a large number of IHC Beaver cutter suction dredges and booster stations.

The five cutter suction dredges for China will be built in collaboration with IHC Merwede’s partner Dalian Liaonan Shipyard. They include three vessels of the IHC 7025MP® type and two of the IHC 8527MP® type both of which were developed specially for China. IHC Merwede supplies components for these ships both from the Netherlands and from its own production facility in Ghangzhou.

The first ships will be completed in the second half of 2009. Since their introduction in 2004 and including this order 22 vessels of the IHC 7025MP® type have been sold. Thirteen have now been completed and have gone into operation successfully. The IHC 8527MP® was put into the market in 2007 in response to the demand for larger vessels for the new large-scale land reclamation projects in China. Including this order 10 of them have been sold to date.

These orders will bring in several man-years of work not only for IHC Merwede but for suppliers and sub-contractors. The IHC Merwede order book is well filled.