Continuous maintenance dredging
Dedicated Water Injection Dredgers can be required in harbours where the sediment build up is important. The “Milouin” is such an example: designed as a general purpose vessel, it has been converted into a dedicated Water Injection Dredger a decade ago. It aims to keep the harbour and the navigation channels clear from a continuous build-up of sedimentation.
CONVERTED YET INTEGRATED
A multipurpose vessel
The conversion works have resulted in an integrated dredging system, designed for continuous use. The Damen delivery included a heavy-duty, wear-resistant dredge pump, a number of rubbering gate valves, a swell compensator and winch, plus the necessary instrumentation to monitor the jet beam.
Natural action
Sediments are not raised to the surface but merely encouraged to flow away following currents and gravity. As a result, the dredging operation, using pressurised water, is an efficient way to keep a port clean and to tackle continuous siltation.
Blown away
Water injection dredging requires large volumes of water to fluidise the recently deposited sediment. Hence the piping on board has a substantial diameter.
Interested?