New dual-fuel water injection dredger ordered for Port of Bordeaux

The Atlantic Port of Bordeaux, EIG Dragages Ports and the Socarenam shipyard have signed a contract to build a dual-fuel water injection dredger.

Scheduled to replace the grab hopper dredger La Maqueline in mid-2019, the 40-metre by 11-metre dredger will be named L’Ostrea.

EIG Dragages Ports awarded the €20 million (US$24.4 million) contract to the Boulogne sur Mer-based shipyard to build what will be – besides LNG tankers – the first dual-fuel newbuild vessel built in France.

L’Ostrea will have two azimuth thrusters and one bow thruster, water injection pressure of 2.5 bars and a service speed of 12 knots.

With the dual-fuel engines, the dredger will be able to burn liquefied natural gas (LNG) and marine light diesel.

EG Dragages Ports is an economic interest group that includes the seven large French ports of Dunkerque, Le Havre, Rouen, Nantes-Saint-Nazaire, La Rochelle, Bordeaux and Marseille.