Van Oord’s Newest Dredge Artemis to Dredge Harbor in Western France

Van Oord delivered the newest addition to its fleet Artemis whose first project will be deepening the Grand Port Maritime de la Rochelle harbor basin and dredging a trench in the access channel.

Artemis is 131.5 meters (about 432 feet) long with a 27.8-meter (about 91-foot) breadth. It has 1000 mm discharge pipe and can dredge a maximum depth of 32.4 meters (about 107 feet).

The contract for the dredge’s design construction and delivery was signed with IHC Merwede on December 20 2010. It was built specifically for dredging hard ground with a hydraulically buffered spud carriage which allows it to continue to work even in poor weather conditions. Air springs that have been installed under the deck house minimize noise and vibration.

“It is very important to us that our employees have a pleasant work environment” Pieter van Oord CEO said.

The self-propelled cutter suction dredge was moored in Rotterdam until mid-April before departing for western France where it will dredge the Grant Port Maritime de la Rochelle.

Artemis is a sister vessel to Athena which was delivered at the end of 2011 and deployed on the Ichthys LNG project in Darwin Australia.