Damen wins dredger fuel conversion contract

Owned by Rouen-based GIE Dragages-Port, the vessel will have the conversion carried out in the second half of 2018. The project is part of an EU-supported drive to promote LNG propulsion in short-sea marine operations along Europe’s Atlantic coast.
The vessel’s current diesel-electric propulsion operates on MGO, and Damen’s engineering, procurement and support contract will include a change of generators to dual-fuel units and the installation of LNG storage tanks. The 117m-long dredger, built in 2002, is one of seven vessels operated by GIE Dragages-Ports in six French Atlantic coast ports and Marseille in the Mediterranean. The company, 50% owned by the seven ports and 50% by the French Government, charters the dredgers to the ports which are responsible for their operation. The Samuel de Champlain is the largest vessel in the seven-ship fleet and is based in the Grand Maritime Port of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire where it is deployed in maintenance dredging operations in the Loire and Seine estuaries.