Bonny River Launched at Cosco Guangdong
On April 15 2018, DEME’s latest trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) Bonny River was successfully launched at Royal IHC’s partner yard Cosco Guangdong Shipyard in China. The vessel has a capacity of 15,000m3 and a maximum dredging depth of 102m.
With the Bonny River, DEME is responding to the macroeconomic trend of maritime sand extraction at greater depths and further offshore. A long suction pipe with a built-in submersible pump facilitates sand extraction from more than 100m deep. Thanks to the vessel’s optimised hull design, Bonny River with its transport capacity of 24,000t has a limited depth when loaded, making the ship highly suitable for coastal protection assignments, even in regions with shallow beaches.
An additional asset is the second, shorter suction pipe for dredging works on a harder seabed. By equipping the vessel with a 75t draghead, Bonny River is multidisciplinary: as a trailing suction hopper dredger the ship can also remove hard soil which wasn’t dredgeable in the past.
Bonny River will be able to minimise the turbidity generated by process water and enables dredging in environmentally vulnerable areas. Moreover, the hydrodynamic hull and the dual-fuel engines (diesel and LNG) ensure further optimisation of the fuel consumption and a minimal CO2 footprint.
Bonny River will carry a ‘Green Passport’ and a ‘Clean Design’ classification, a certification for owners and contractors which make the conscious decision to build and operate their ships in an environmentally friendly way.
The successful launch was an important milestone in the construction process of the Bonny River. In the coming weeks, the ship will be commissioned and put into operation.