August 2005 37
By David Tinsley, technical editor
Following divestment by IHC Caland,
the companies now merged into IHC
Holland Merwede have scored a succes-
sion of contracts under new ownership,
ensuring shipbuilding continuity at the
home yards in Sliedrecht, Kinderdijk
and Hardinxveld-Giessendam and play-
ing to Dutch strengths in special-pur-
pose tonnage. While dredge construc-
tion and technology remains central to
IHC Holland Merwede's endeavors, the
strategy of reinforcing the business in
other areas of high value, complex ves-
sels is clear from orders for an open-top
container feedership and a sophisticated
pipelay and offshore work vessel.
The 1,700-TEU boxship is to be
turned out at Kinderdijk for progressive,
northern Dutch shipowner Wagenborg
Shipping, evidently convinced of the
cargo handling benefits promised by a
hatchcoverless configuration. The
design is also distinguished by an envi-
sioned service speed of 21-knots, and by
the nomination of a twin-engine, single-
screw propulsion layout, which provides
one of the opening references for the
46F medium-speed diesel developed by
Wärtsilä Corporation and employing
common-rail fuel injection.
Scheduled to be commissioned into
the intra-European shortsea traffic as
early as mid 2006, the ice-classed con-
tainer carrier will be equipped with two
six-cylinder examples of the Wärtsilä
46F, each producing a maximum 7,500
kW. The drive will be through a com-
bining reduction gearbox to a single
controllable pitch propeller, incorporat-
ing a compact E-type hub for improved
hydrodynamic performance. The
arrangements are intended to enable the
ship to be run on just one or both
engines in accordance with scheduling
requirements at any point in the operat-
ing profile, to the benefit of overall fuel
economy.
IHC Holland Merwede's subsequent
order for a 12,340-dwt reeled rigid
pipelaying and offshore construction
vessel is to be fulfilled by the subsidiary
Merwede Shipyard. The design and
build project is a testament to the latter's
design and system integration capabili-
ties, and carries a comparatively early
delivery stipulation, notwithstanding the
complexity of the vessel, in the second
quarter of 2007. Overall project cost is
in the range of $180-million to $200-
million, based on fixed prices from the
Merwede yard and the pipelay equip-
ment supplier Huisman Itrec.
Contractual owner Subsea 7, part of
the SIEM Group, is among the world's
leading subsea engineering firms, with a
presence in all the main offshore mar-
kets. It controls more than 100 ROVs
(remote-operated vehicles) and four
pipeline construction facilities as well as
a fleet of specialized vessels.
The 515 ft. (157 m) newbuild from the
Netherlands will have a full dynamic
positioning capability, and will incorpo-
rate a full-width ROV hangar, one 400-
ton offshore crane and two other deck
cranes, pipelay reels and at least 650-sq.
m. of open deck area.
The Merwede-built ship has been
specified with a 6.6-kV integrated elec-
tric power generation system, and
propulsion will be by way of three elec-
tric motor-driven fixed pitch propellers
in azimuthing nozzles aft. Two
retractable, azimuthing thrusters will be
fitted in the forward part of the vessel, as
will a transverse tunnel thruster.
The work intake since the creation of
IHC Holland Merwede, in which the
shareholders are the company's manage-
ment and employees, Rabobank Group
division Rabo Private Equity, and the
Indofin Group, has also included two
trailing suction hopper dredges, six stan-
dard cutter suction dredges of the ubiq-
uitous Beaver series, and two custom-
built cutter dredges. The two 5,400-cu.
m. 'trailers' have been booked by DEME
(Dredging, Environmental and Marine
Engineering) and will be sisters to the
Pallieter, earlier built for the Belgian
contractor. The first of the new pair is to
be handed over by the Sliedrecht yard
next year.
A New Era for the
Catamaran
Incat Australia's belief and trust in the
Wave Piercing Catamaran concept has
found expression in progressively larger
vessels offering higher payloads at
speeds over 35-knots. A decade and a
half has elapsed since the first car-carry-
ing wave piercer, 74-m in length, sailed
from the company's yard in Tasmania.
There has been consistent development
in ship size and capacity, and the tally of
deliveries into commercial or military
service is now approaching the 40 mark.
The 112-m Evolution One12 cat now
under construction, for delivery to Incat
USA as a 'SeaFrame' base vessel, has
taken the technology to a new level of
refinement and capability. The
Australian company is ready to contract
what will be its largest and fastest car
The New York City Department of Transportation’s Staten Island Ferry Division
seeks candidates for the following positions:
DECKHANDS: Salary $37,342. Operate gates, gangplanks, aprons and bridges;
handle lines; assist passengers; clean vessels; act as a lookout; operate fire-
fighting equipment; participate in fire and lifeboat drills;
QUALIFICATIONS: 2 years of full-time satisfactory experience as a deckhand
acquired within the last 10 years.
MATES: Salary $42,978. Responsibilities include Deckhand assignments and
instructions; oversees embarking and disembarkment of passengers; partici-
pates in fire, lifeboat and emergency drills; assumes responsibility for the safe-
ty and care of floating property of the Department of Transportation; prepares
accident reports, maintains records and makes reports as necessary; performs
related duties.
QUALIFICATIONS: Candidates must possess a valid U.S. Coast Guard license
as Inland Mate of Steam and Motor Vessels of any Gross Tons, or higher, with
an endorsement as Radar Observer and three years experience as deckhand.
License must be kept for duration of employment.
REQUIREMENTS: Subject to background investigation, medical and drug
screening. City residency required within 90 days of appointment. Excellent
benefits package.
Forward resume to:
Josephine O’Connell
NYC Dept. of Transportation
Personnel Division
40 Worth Street, Room 801
New York, NY 10013
or E-mail to joconnell@dot.nyc.gov
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
STATEN ISLAND FERRY OPERATIONS
DECKHANDS & MATES
NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Circle 263 on Reader Service Card
Circle 262 on Reader Service Card
Investment in Design
Dutch Industrial Will
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