Royal Boskalis Westminster’s new self-propelled mega cutter dredger Helios was named and christened during a ceremony in Rotterdam two days ago.
During the official handover on 16 June, Boskalis and IHC reflected on the excellent cooperation between the companies – with Boskalis praising the project team on the quality of the vessel.
“I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to the new building team for its hard work on behalf of IHC,” said Mr Arjan Klijnsoon, IHC’s Executive Director Shipbuilding. “We are proud of the quality of this powerful cutter suction dredger and delighted that the client also awarded us the contract to construct a sister vessel for the Helios.”
The outfitted hull was built at the Uljanik shipyard in Pula, Croatia, and arrived in Kinderdijk in August 2016 for further completion. This included the installation of the main dredging equipment, such as the world’s heaviest cutter ladder, and the spud carrier.
At the end of May, the Helios returned from successful sea trials, during which the vessel and its dredging equipment were extensively tested.