STX France Lorient To Build New Dredger
STX France Lorient SAS has just signed a contract with STFMO (Société de Transports Fluvio-Maritimes de l’Ouest), a subsidiary of Sablières de l’Atlantique, for the construction of a sand dredger. This ship order is the first placed with STX Lorient since 2008 and comes during a significantly low period. Construction will begin at the start of 2011 with delivery of the ship to STFMO scheduled for mid-2012.
It will give the Lanester shipyard the opportunity to establish itself on a new and highly competitive market at a national and European level. STX Lorient has paid particular attention to the hydrodynamic optimisation of the ship to reduce fuel consumption – one of the essential points in the client’s economic model. “The projects team at our shipyard rallied into action with great efficiency to meet the challenge represented by such a highly specialised type of ship, rallying support from recognized experts in the dredging field to offer our client the best solution. Taking on this challenge has been possible thanks to close collaboration with STFMO from a very early stage”, Jean Roche, Managing director of STX France, Lorient ASA declared.
This contract will bring a workload of over 170,000 hours to STX staff and subcontractors. The design phase will be launched promptly and the first equipment orders are scheduled for this autumn. The ship is to be 84.10 m long and 15.60 m wide with 2,000 cu.m capacity and will operate all year round on the Atlantic seaboard at over 15 nautical miles (approximately 28km) from the coastline, regardless of weather conditions. The extraction of marine aggregates will be performed mainly on the Pilier and Charpentier concessions offshore Saint-Nazaire. The ship will be unloading its cargo at the dredging terminals in Montoir, Cheviré-aval and Rohu.