HAM 318 Arrives to Work on Port Klang Deepening and Widening Project

On August 18 officials from the Malaysian government accepted an invitation from Integrated Marine Works (IMW) to visit the 225-meter-long HAM 318 which had just arrived to work on the deepening of Port Klang’s South Channel (Pintu Gedung).

IMW is deepening the channel from the existing depth of 15.5 meters to a new depth of 16.5 meters and increasing the width from the existing 365 meters to 500 meters.

The expansion will enable the largest super post-Panamax container vessels with drafts exceeding 15 meters to pass safely in the eight-kilometer-long channel.

IMW who has the concession for all major dredging works in Malaysian Ports began the project in mid-July using their dredges Inai Siantan and Inai Selasih. In mid-August the trailing suction hopper dredge Ham 318 was brought in to work on the project and on August 18 Capt. David Padman of the Port Klang Authority who is Secretary General of the Eastern Dredging Association and Abdul Rahim of the Malaysian Ministry of Transport took a 20-minute boat trip out to the dredge to get a feel for the operation of what is probably the largest hopper dredge in the world.
The project involves dredging approximately 6200000 cubic meters and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The HAM 318 belongs to Van Oord ACZ and was lengthened in 2008 to increase its hopper capacity to 37000 cubic meters from its original 23700 cubic meters with 28636 kW of installed power. The suction pipes are fitted with submerged dredge pumps allowing a maximum dredging depth of 110 meters at full extension. The hopper is emptied through bottom doors.

IMW is a subsidiary of Inai Kiara Snd. Bhd. of Malaysia and with Van Oord ACZ has formed IMWD – IMW Dredging.