Damen wins new MAD 3500 dredger contract

Damen’s Romanian shipyard in Galati is to build a marine aggregate dredger (MAD) for the UK’s Hanson Aggregates Marine, a supplier of building materials to the construction industry. The MAD 3500, capable of extracting aggregates offshore to a depth of 55m, will be deployed in the English Channel and the North Sea and has dimensions optimised for operation through Shoreham lock on the English south coast. This is Damen’s second contract for a MAD 3500, having won the first such order from the UK in 2018.
The vessel will have a length of 103.5m, a deadweight of almost 6,800 tonnes and a speed at loaded draft of about 12.5 knots. A 1.4-MW permanent magnet electric motor will power the dredge pump and dredged material will be discharged via a dry unloading system built by Damen’s partner PLM Cranes BV.
Hanson Aggregates Marine is Europe’s largest producer of marine-dredged sand and gravel and supplies a number of products to the UK’s construction industry including crushed rock, sand, gravel, ready-mixed concrete, asphalt, cement and cement-related materials. The company has a fleet of six purpose-built aggregate dredgers.