System integrator Alewijnse recently won a contract for the complete electrical and automation installation on board the sister vessel of trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) Anchorage.
The innovative vessel is currently under construction at Barkmeijer Shipyards, part of Thecla Bodewes Shipyards.
TSHD Anchorage was successfully handed over earlier this year and delivery of the sister vessel is scheduled for April 2022.
Both TSHDs are designed to extract sand and gravel aggregates from the seabed. Each vessel has a single suction pipe and a hopper capacity of 3,000 m³.
Complete electrical and automation outfitting
The complete electrical and automation outfitting is the responsibility of Alewijnse. This includes the design, building, installation and commissioning of the switchboards, consoles and the dedicated alarm, monitoring and control systems.
It also includes the design, engineering, supply and commissioning of the dredging automation system, including visualisation, monitoring and process control.
Ground-breaking dredging system
For the control and monitoring of the dredging process, Barkmeijer Shipyards has collaborated with Alewijnse to develop an intelligent and integrated bus-driven system.
In addition to delivering high dredging performance, its capabilities mean that a crew of just 7 or 8 is all that is required to manage, load and unload the vessel.
Elsewhere on board, the diesel-electric power plants, provided by D&A Electric, significantly reduce energy consumption and emissions.
Integrated automation systems
In addition, several advanced automation systems are being integrated on board, including an alarm and monitoring system (AMS) for fire door signaling and remote tank sounding and a bridge operating system (BOS) for the control and monitoring of the lighting systems.
Also being fitted are a dredge control system (DCS) for the control and signaling of the remote controlled dredging valves, position indication and control of the swell compensator, overflow, pumps, screen/hopper loading system and hydraulic installation, and a ship system control (SSC) for control and signaling of the trim valves, ventilation and supervision of the emergency generator.
The company is also installing an Alewijnse draught and loading system (ADLS) for the continuous measuring of the equipment’s draught and the calculation of the actual load, trim and list.
The Alewijnse suction tube system (ASTS) combines software and hardware for the measuring, calculating, visualisation and monitoring of the hopper dredger’s suction tube position under water.