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.
