Sustainability in the Dredging industry

Jan De Nul Group recently deployed two Ultra Low Emission vessels, Tristão da Cunha and Sanderus, to dredge in Flemish ports.

This way, Jan De Nul complies and even dives below the strict exhaust regulations the Flemish Government implemented for dredging activities.

The company is the first to introduce ultra-low emission vessels on the dredging market, setting an important standard for dredging operations in Belgium and abroad.

Both trailing suction hopper dredgers are among the newest generation of the Jan De Nul fleet: Ultra-Low Emission vessels (ULEv). They are fitted with a filter system that reduces exhaust gases and captures nanoparticle emissions.

The technology complies with the stricter European EURO STAGE V directives regarding emissions on land and waterways. This makes the vessels the optimal equipment for this dredging project, in which the Flemish Government stipulated that dredging operations must be sustainably executed, with strict criteria on NOx-emissions.

Bart Praet, Ass. Area Manager at Jan De Nul Group: “Our employer, the Flemish Government, has committed fully to sustainability in maintenance dredging works since this year. This stimulates us in this way to deploy our ULEv technology in this region, like in the Port of Ostend, in the middle of a densely populated city centre.”

For ULEv-vessels, Jan De Nul was inspired by the Swiss tunnels below the Alps. The Swiss government requires that all exhaust in the tunnels must be filtered from the air to a minimum, in order to make sure workers in the tunnels are able to breathe clean air.

The bi-phased filter system on board of the ULEv-vessels does the same thing: it reduces NOx-emissions by means of a catalysator up to 99% and it filtrates the emissions of nanoparticles with a filter to levels lower than a Euro 6 truck.

The vessels of Jan De Nul often work in ports, on rivers and near the coast, where emissions have an impact on the people living nearby. For this reason, Jan De Nul raises the bar high for itself in reducing maritime emissions. In 2015, the first ULEv-vessels entered the Jan De Nul fleet. Since then, all new vessels are equipped with this technology.

Michel Deruyck, Head of Energy at Jan De Nul Group: “At Jan De Nul, we invest in sustainable venture. Through innovation, we invest in equipment to sustainably execute these projects. For this project, we use two of our seven vessels equipped with the ULEv technology. Our Ultra-Low Emission vessels will help us in achieving our goal of an absolute reduction of CO2 of 30% by 2030.”