More dredging power for Africa

The largest and most powerful dredger to serve any at any African port is scheduled to arrive at the port of Durban in January next year. Transnet National Ports Authority’s (TNPA) new trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD), the Ilembe – which means ‘great warrior’ in Zulu – was named and launched at the shipyard of IHC Merwede in Rotterdam in the Netherlands last week. According to TNPA chief executive Richard Vallihu, the ports authority previously ordered three new dredgers as part of the dredging services division’s R2-billion fleet renewal programme to boost capacity to aid the removal of around four million cubic metres of excess material from the seabed at South Africa’s ports every year. The Ilembe is the fourth dredger on order and will be deployed to provide spare dredging capacity for neighbouring ports in line with TNPA’s Africa partnership strategy, said Vallihu. CAPTION TNPA's new dredger, the Ilembe, was launched in Rotterdam last week.