The naming and launch ceremony for the 12,000m³ trailing suction hopper dredger, CHANG JIANG KOU 02, took place on 22 February 2012 at the Daoda Heavy Industry shipyard in Qidong, China.
IHC Merwede is building the impressive vessel for Yangtze Estuary Waterway Administration Bureau MOT, which is based in the People’s Republic of China. It is the duplicate of the CHANG JIANG KOU 01 which was launched last year at IHC Merwede’s Kinderdijk shipyard.
The ceremony was performed by Mr Fan Yaxiang, the Party Secretary of Yangtze Estuary Waterway Administration Bureau MOT.
The contract for the design, construction and delivery of two 12,000m³ trailing suction hopper dredgers (CHANG JIANG KOU 01 and CHANG JIANG KOU 02) was signed between Yangtze Estuary Waterway Administration Bureau MOT and IHC Dredgers in July 2008. The keel for CHANG JIANG KOU 02 was laid on 15 December 2010 and the vessel will be delivered in the first quarter of 2013.
Overall the work in progress means that the ship is on schedule. This demonstrates the reliability of IHC Merwede and its partner in China, regarding international production.
Both ships, named after the mouth of the Yangtze River, have been specifically designed with the high-current velocity and soil properties of the River in mind. This is one of the reasons why the vessels will be equipped with the patented IHC Merwede Wild Dragon® draghead. The vessels will carry out maintenance dredging jobs over a distance of 122km.
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World Maritime News Staff, February 22, 2012; Image: IHC