VESSEL REVIEW | Mohab Mameesh – First of two new 29,190kW dredgers for Suez Canal Authority

Netherlands-based Royal IHC has handed over the new heavy-duty, rock cutter suction dredger (CSD) Mohab Mameesh to the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) in Egypt.

Named after Vice Admiral Mohab Mameesh, a former commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Navy who later served as chairman of the SCA from 2012 to 2019, the custom-built vessel became ready for official duties after it successfully completed commissioning tests on the Dutch coastline and Haringvliet.

The dredger will primarily be deployed to maintain and improve the artificial sea-level area that connects the Mediterranean and Red Seas. As the vessel was designed in close cooperation with the SCA, it has the capacity to work effectively in the harsh conditions of the region.

Mohab Mameesh has an LOA of 147.4 metres, a beam of 23 metres, and a depth of 7.7 metres, making it one of the largest dredgers ever to be built for use in the Middle East. A draught of 5.5 metres means it is also capable of operations in shallow waters.

The dredger boasts a total installed power of 29,190 kW, a total installed cutter power of 4,800 kW, and a maximum dredging depth of 35 metres making it more than adequate for the canal, which is 24 metres at its deepest point. The dredging equipment includes one submerged dredge pump and one inboard pump, enabling the vessel to remove up to 3,600 cubic metres of sand in one hour.

The dredger also has onboard accommodations for up to 70 people.

Mohab Mameesh and near-identical sister vessel Hussein Tantawy, which recently completed undergoing sea trials in the Netherlands and is scheduled for delivery this August, were ordered from Royal IHC in October 2017 under a contract valued at approximately €300 million (US$357 million) to help modernise the SCA’s current fleet of dredgers. The contract also includes an advanced dredger simulator that Royal IHC and the SCA will use to train the crews that will operate the two heavy-duty CSDs.

Within weeks of its arrival from the Netherlands, Mohab Mameesh has already been put to use by the SCA. The heavy-duty vessel is presently involved in a project that seeks to deepen and widen the southernmost portion of the Suez Canal to help reduce the risk of blockages like the recent one caused by the grounding of the 400-metre containership Ever Given. Along a 30-kilometre stretch south of the Great Bitter Lake, the dredger will help widen the canal by 40 metres eastward and deepen it from its current depth of 20.1 metres to 21.9 metres.

See all the other news, reviews and features of this month’s Marine Projects Week right here.