Royal IHC Wins Ship of the Year Award

Royal IHC won the KNVTS Ship of the Year award for the 8,400-cubic-meter (10,987-cubic-yard) trailing suction hopper dredge (TSHD) Scheldt River, designed and built for DEME.

The award was presented November 12 at the annual Maritime Awards Gala. This year, the jury selected three nominees out of seven entries for the award. To be nominated, ships must be developed, and preferably built, in The Netherlands between May 1 2017 and April 30, 2018. Projects are evaluated on the ship’s design, economy, sustainability, safety and the building process.

Scheldt River, and the smaller IHC-built DEME vessel Minerva, are the world’s first dual-fuel TSHDs that can operate on LNG.

Royal IHC and DEME developed several innovations for Scheldt River, including a hybrid dredge pump drive system in combination with improved Wärtsilä engine management to reduce the effect of load variations and stay within the critical limits of dual-fuel LNG engines. Royal IHC developed the intelligent IHC ECO automation package to automate the dredging process and added two-speed propulsion to optimize fuel consumption.

“All of these innovations made Scheldt River the first of a new generation of dual-fuel LNG hoppers, which positions our customer DEME at the forefront of the dredging industry,” said Dave Vander Heyde, CEO of Royal IHC. “We are extremely proud to receive this award, which recognizes the efforts of both Royal IHC and DEME in improving the environmental performance and reducing the carbon footprint of dredgers. Building the Scheldt River has been a challenging journey. This achievement is a great reward for all the hard work of everyone involved at IHC and DEME.”