Willem van Rubroeck delivered by Remontowa started to dredge in Mauritania

As Jan De Nul stated in its press release, the brand-new Cutter Suction Dredger Willem van Rubroeck, which has a total installed diesel power of 41,346 kW, started its very first assignment in Mauritania. In the port of the capital Nouakchott, the vessel is working for developer ARISE Mauritania, on the deepening of the access channel, the port basin and the new berth alongside the new ARISE port terminal.

Willem van Rubroeck pre-cuts the hard seabed, after which the trailing suction hopper dredger James Cook can dredge up the cut material. The duo, assisted by the barges Pinta, Boussole, L’Aigle and Le Guerrier, will remove a total of 3 million m³ of hard soil.

During the summer months of July and August, Willem van Rubroeck and James Cook will briefly move to the more northerly port city of Nouadhibou to dredge rock banks in the 3-kilometre-long outer channel for the mining company Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière (SNIM). In September and October, both vessels will return to Nouakchott to complete the works for ARISE.

Both projects are largely carried out in the open sea, and that is exactly why the Willem van Rubroeck is the best option. This powerful cutter suction dredger is the largest in the Jan De Nul cutter fleet with a total installed power of 41,346 kW, three 8,500 kW dredge pumps, 8,500 kW of cutter power and a cutter reach up to 45 metres water depth.

Willem van Rubroeck was built to dredge very hard rocky soil, and thanks to its size, this vessel can also withstand more difficult conditions, such as higher waves and more challenging weather conditions.

It is worth recalling that in February 2021 the newly built and outfitted Willem van Rubroeck ready for operation left Remontowa Shiprepair Yard in Gdansk. In 2020 the dredger had arrived at the Polish yard from Croatia as an unfinished newbuilding and was then entirely completed and outfitted.

The shipyard’s main task was to get the construction of the dredger done according to a detailed work specification prepared by the shipowner, and to carry out commissioning and testing of the equipment, acceptance tests and sea trials.

Remontowa made steel replacements covering almost every area of the dredger. The accommodation part and wheelhouse (navigation bridge) have entirely been outfitted, including mounting of insulation, ventilation, formwork and furniture.

The most important task however was the work on the hydraulic system and that related to the dredging equipment, which has been successfully completed in Poland.