Damen Shipyards Galati Constructs First Marine Aggregate Dredge

Damen Shipyards Galati in Romania is constructing a dredging system for the first Marine Aggregate Dredge (MAD), designed to extract sand and gravel from the seafloor at depths up to 55 meters (180 feet). The MAD is being built for Cemex UK Marine Ltd.

Cemex requested a system with no inboard dredge pipework to avoid the possibility of the abrasive dredged material creating wear holes. Damen said the result is a safer and more maintenancefriendly system. Maintenance can be conducted with just the on-board service crane. Also reducing maintenance is the screening. In this dredge the screening structure is made rigid and only the loading chutes rotate unlike traditional setups where the entire structure rotates. This allows for a larger screen which improves the screening quality. The screens can either filter out coarse or fine materials depending on the needs of the operator and what materials are being loaded.

Damen, working with Cemex also developed a dry grab unloader with electronics rated IP68 for long-term reliability.