Cochin yard to build Royal IHC dredgers for DCI
Caption: Royal IHC-built DCI Dredge XXI during sea trials in 2013. DCI's current fleet of 10 TSHDs have been built in Dutch Royal IHC yards. (Photo Credit: Royal IHC)
Dredger builder Royal IHC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) to work together to build trailing hopper suction dredgers (THSDs) for Dredging Corporation of India (DCI).
Royal IHC said that it wants to support India-based dredging company, DCI, “a long-standing customer of IHC”, as best it can. DCI currently operates a fleet of 10 TSHDs, all of which were made by Royal IHC at its yards in the Netherlands, and according to its area sales manager, India, Jaco Kleijwegt, it’s been the case for all, except one, DCI-ordered vessels since the 1970s.
Acknowledging the shift towards sourcing home-made inventory, Kleijwegt said: “It is a current trend for governments to promote local-make initiatives and IHC has experience in these type[s] of collaborations”.
Through the agreement the parties will design and build an advanced 8,000m3 and/or 12,000m3 THSD, with Royal IHC delivering the design and engineering package. Kleijwegt confirmed, however, that the design model won’t be known until the “technical exploration process is concluded”.
In a statement, Royal IHC said that the high-capacity dredgers require complex equipment, and that building such vessels will be a first for an Indian yard. Kleijwegt said that the choice of yard was made by DCI “based on its own considerations”, but that Royal IHC has a long relationship with CSL and “we know it is a very capable shipyards on the Indian subcontinent,” and that this capability was likely a “factor in DCI’s decision”.
“With this MoU three major companies within the ‘Make in India’ campaign are joining forces to have the first dredger of this size locally built in India,” said Royal IHC’s statement.
The new vessels will enable “DCI to meet the increasing demand in India for port maintenance and dredging services,” said the company
“It could well be that we will see more dredging vessel projects from the Indian Government in the near future,” said Kleijwegt as “building location has been a theme in many Indian Government projects”.
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