Belgian dredging specialist DEME on Friday held a naming ceremony for its first LNG-powered dredger in the port of Zeebrugge.
DEME claims that the 3,500-cbm trailing suction hopper dredger named Minerva is the first dredging vessel in the world equipped with dual fuel engines and capable of operating on liquefied natural gas.
The vessel has a “Green Passport” and “Clean Design” notation, complying and exceeding the most strict international emission requirements, according to DEME,
Minerva was built at Royal IHC’s shipyard in the Netherlands.
Besides Minerva, IHC has been previously contracted by DEME to build LNG-powered trailing suction hopper dredgers Scheldt River and Bonny River, LNG-powered cutter suction dredger Spartacus.
There are currently no LNG-powered dredgers in operation around the globe.
The new vessel is part of DEME’s multi-year fleet investment programme, focused on further increasing efficiency, both in terms of productivity and environmental performance.
A number of these vessels will join DEME’s fleet in 2017.
“We operate in an industry where our customers invest in a green energy supply and implement measures to limit the impact of their operations on the environment. It is a logical step for DEME to make the transition to cleaner types of fuel such as LNG to meet customer requirements and to comply with changing legislation and emission reduction targets,” said Bart Verboomen , Head of DEME’s Technical Department.