Royal IHC wins automation contract from Jan De Nul

Jan De Nul Group and Royal IHC have signed a contract for the upgrade of cutter suction dredger (CSD) J.F.J. De Nul.

Built in 2013 by Royal IHC and with a total power of 27,240 kW installed, this CSD belongs to the top-end in the world cutter dredging fleet. The J.F.J. De Nul is the second largest CSD in the fleet of Jan De Nul Group.

With the automation upgrade, IHC will enable the J.F.J. De Nul for another decade of efficient dredging.

Part of the automation upgrade of the vessel is the implementation of IHC showpiece the Automatic Cutter Controller®. A feature to assist the operator maximising the performance of the dredge in enabling a fully automatic swing, cutter and mixture pump control.

Furthermore, the automation upgrade comprises the replacement of outdated SCADA hard- and software, PLC processor hardware and networks and the introduction of a PC Virtual Machine environmental.