Picture of the Day: Dredger ‘J.F.J. De Nul’

Today we are bringing you this beautiful photo of Jan De Nul’s cutter suction dredger J.F.J. De Nul, built by IHC Holland’s Kinderdijk yard.

This dredger is the most powerful vessel of its type in the world.

The cutter suction dredgers (CSD) are equipped with a rotating cutter head cutting hard soil into fragments.

The cut soil is then sucked in by dredge pumps. These dredgers are mostly stationary suction dredgers that cut the soil according to a pre-set profile. In other words, the vessel does not sail during dredging activities.

The material is then pumped ashore using pumps and a floating pipeline or loaded into a split hopper barge moored alongside, which in turn can then offload the dredge sediment at the set location.

Larger cutter suction dredgers are self-propelled which means that they can sail autonomously.

J.F.J. De Nul – Technical Specifications 

Length o.a. 141.0 m;

Breadth 27.8 m;

Draught 5.5 m;

Dredging depth 36 m;

Suction pipe diameter 1,000 mm;

Discharge pipe diameter 1,000 mm;

Barge loading pipe diameter 1,000 mm;

Submerged pump power 3,800 kW;

Inboard pump power 2 x 6,000 kW;

Cutter power 7,600 kW;

Propulsion power 2 x 3,800 kW;

Total installed diesel power 27,240 kW;

Speed 12.5 kn;

Accommodation 60;

Built in 2003.