Schottel propulsion installed on new dredger
A new trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD), Bonny River, built at Royal IHC’s Chinese partner shipyard, Cosco Guangdong for Belgium’s DEME, is equipped with controllable pitch propellers and transverse thrusters provided by Schottel. The 15,000m3-capacity dredger is capable of dredging hard soil and other material at depths of more than 100m, the company said.
The 16-knot vessel has two controllable pitch propellers of 4.5m diameter and three tunnel thrusters which can be demounted from above. A power management system controls the mechanically driven dredging pump, power take-offs and propellers, without overloading the dual-fuel engines.
The Bonny River is well-suited to coastal protection assignments, even in regions with shallow beaches. It is part of DEME’s multi-year fleet investment programme and is currently being mobilised in Flushing, Netherlands, in preparation for its first assignments.