EXCLUSIVE: Van Oord reveals names of two new dredgers

Van Oord’s water injection dredgers Maas and Mersey are getting the identical sisters – their names are Rijn & Rhône.

This weekend, the Rijn arrived at the Kooiman Marine Group shipyard in Zwijndrecht, where the outfitting work will take place.

According to Van Oord, this vessel will be commissioned in the first half of 2024.

The Rhône is currently being constructed at Vahali Shipyards in Serbia.

Energy management in this series of vessels was given special attention during the design phase, said Van Oord.

The water injection dredgers will be equipped with a hybrid energy management system and will be able to store energy in batteries that can be used later for propulsion and other purposes.

Diesel-electric engines will reduce carbon emissions.

The new dredgers will comply with IMO TIER III legislation for reducing harmful NOx emissions and take account of EU STAGE V legislation.