Keppel Offshore & Marine’s unit Keppel Singmarine secured contracts from Van Oord to build two LNG-fueled trailing suction hopper dredgers (TSHDs).
The two dredgers are expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the second quarter of 2021 respectively.
As part of the contracts, Van Oord has an option to order a third dredger to be exercised within one year, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
When completed, the two TSHDs will each have a hopper capacity of 10,500 cubic meters.
Built to the requirements of the classification society, Bureau Veritas, the two dredgers will be equipped with dual-fuel systems capable of running on LNG.
Jaap de Jong , staff director, ship management department at Van Oord, said, “Last month we already launched our first LNG powered crane vessel. The TSHDs will be the first LNG hopper dredgers in our fleet.”
TSHDs are mainly used for dredging loose and soft soils such as sand, gravel, silt or clay. The dredged material can be deposited on the seabed through bottom doors or discharged through a floating pipeline to shore and used for land reclamation.