Great Lakes Dredge and Dock's newest rock installation vessel hits the water

A new subsea rock installation (SRI) vessel ordered by Great Lakes Dredge and Dock (GLDD) was launched into the water at Hanwha Philly Shipyard in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, July 23.

Acadia is engineered to transport and precisely install up to 20,000 tonne of rock on the seabed.

GLDD said this rock would provide critical scour protection for subsea infrastructure including subsea cables for power transmission, telecommunications cables, oil and gas pipelines and subsea structures and offshore wind turbine foundations, preventing erosion caused by waves and currents and mechanical impacts from equipment and vessels.

The SRI vessel was designed by Norwegian naval architecture firm Ulstein, which said that the completed vessel will have an LOA of 140.5 metres, a beam of 34.1 metres, a maximum draught of seven metres, a maximum speed of 12 knots, and accommodation for up to 45 personnel.

GLDD said Acadia will be the first US-flagged, Jones Act-compliant SRI vessel.