Construction of a new dredger
for the Transnet National Ports
Authority (TNPA) Dredging
Service is under way – with an
earlier-than-expected delivery
set for the end of January 2016.
The as-yet unnamed 5 500-
cubic metre trailing suction
hopper dredger is the largest
in Africa and the third to be
built in a more than R2-billion
programme to renew the
dredging fleet.
The keel-laying ceremony
was performed jointly by
TNPA and IHC – the world’s
leading builder of dredging
equipment – at its shipbuilding
yard in Rotterdam earlier this
month.
And the ceremony included
a moment of traditional
maritime symbolism. This as a
commemorative Mandela coin
was placed underneath the
keel of the dredger, a coin that
will sail to Durban with the
dredger on her maiden delivery
voyage and be returned to
TNPA.
The contract for its
construction was awarded to
IHC in 2014 and it will replace
the 2 800cbm Ingwenya.
CAPTION
Lunga Ngcobo, Transnet National Ports Authority GM
corporate affairs, places the commemorative Mandela coin
under the keel of the new TNPA trailing suction dredger being
built by IHC in Rotterdam.
