Dutra Group Purchases Dredge Stuyvesant

The Dutra Group has purchased the 11144-cubic-yard hopper dredge Stuyvesant from General Electric. The purchase was finalized on December 30 and announced on January 2.

The dredge’s name recalls Peter Stuyvesant the last Dutch governor of New Amsterdam before the colony was taken over by the British in 1664 and re-named New York.

The Stuyvesant is in Mobile Alabama and will be available to work on any suitable job said Bill T. Dutra president and CEO of The Dutra Company.

“There are ongoing projects for the Stuyvesant to bid here in the U.S.” Dutra told IDR. “This ship will be a welcome addition to our fleet and its size will allow us greater flexibility in our operations” he said.

Asked where the dredge will be homeported Dutra said that is still to be determined but that the dredge will go wherever there is a job on either coast or the Mississippi River.

The Stuyvesant was launched on November 7 1981 at Avondale Shipyards in an elaborate ceremony by owners Zapata Corporation of Houston and Boskalis Westminster Inc. The Netherlands. Completed in Spring of 1982 she was operated under time charter to Stuyvesant Dredging Co. a U.S. subsidiary of Boskalis Westminster of New Orleans headed by Ian Anderson as president. Dredge crews from Williams-McWilliams Co. Inc. a Zapata subsidiary ran the dredge.

Most recently the Stuyvesant was owned by General Electric and operated by Dredge Operators Inc. of Metairie Louisiana. Pam St. Cyr and Scott Bowers formerly of Dredge Operators Inc. will join Dutra as hopper dredge personnel manager and port engineer respectively.