The second vessel of Damen’s new Marine Aggregate Dredger (MAD) 3500 class has now completed sea trials and has entered service with owner Hanson UK, a UK building materials supplier, replacing an obsolete vessel.
With a large part of the UK dredging fleet now several decades old, the MAD 3500 enables operators to benefit from major advances made in aggregate dredging design and technology, and the efficiencies that come with it. The design team at Damen sought input from experienced operators in the sector as well as from its own repair yards, which have been maintaining dredgers for many years, and its dredging mission equipment production subsidiary.
As a result, while the new design is similar in size to its older equivalents, the MAD 3500 is said to offer a quantum leap ahead, both in the quantity of product it can carry (20% more) and operational costs per tonne. These are achieved not only by the latest propulsion systems delivering greater fuel economy, but also their ability to conduct operations while running on a single engine. It is designed to operate 24/7 with just nine crew. At any one time, dredging can take place with only two personnel on the bridge plus an engineer on duty. Unloading the entire vessel can be achieved in two to three hours and is fully automated.
With ease of maintenance designed into the vessel from the earliest stages, operability is maximised. This is achieved partly through the use of modular systems that allow faulty components to be swapped out. This in turn is supported by the use of Damen’s Triton remote monitoring and analysis system that enables continuous optimisation and pre-emptive maintenance.
The vessel, maned Hanson Thames, began build at Damen Shipyards Galati at the end of 2019 and, while being based on the original MAD 3500 design, benefited from the experience gained from an earlier build with adjustments to meet particular operational requirements. Damen has always maintained the ethos of combining standardisation where possible with customisation where required, and the MAD 3500 class can be modified to meet the needs of individual operators without any loss in performance.
Key technologies on board the MAD 3500 include the Damen Offshore Bow, which encloses the foredeck, protecting equipment and cargo as well as delivering excellent seakeeping.
To support the Hanson Thames and other Damen vessels, Damen recently established a Service Hub in the Port of Southampton to enable it to provide full, through-life support and to act as a repository of knowledge as well as critical components regarding these specialised vessels. With much of the existing UK-based North Sea fleet of aggregate dredgers due to be retired soon, the value of this resource is expected to grow over time.
