Italdraghe SpA, Italy’s best known dredger manufacturer, has just been awarded a contract to build another Marina Master 8000 dredger for the United Kingdom.
This will be the second dredger of its kind to be supplied to a UK marina owner requiring versatile, easily-manoeuvrable, precision dredging equipment.
A key feature of the dredger will be its horizontally-hinged dredging arm that will be manufactured in two sections with a central hydraulic-controlled vertical hinge, allowing the dredger to work under floating marina pontoons and finger piers without having to remove them.
Thanks to its ability to manoeuvre into and clean individual berths and then reverse out, there is no need for the marina owner to empty out the entire marina prior to starting dredging operations. Only one or two moored boats will need to be temporarily moved out at a time and, as each berth is dredged, these boats can be moored back into place as the dredger moves on to the next berth.
Dredging can thus be done throughout the year, even in the busier summer months.
The 14-meter long self-propelled dredger, with a PD180 dredging pump, will be built in the Italdraghe shipyard on Italy’s Adriatic Coast.
Compared to its predecessor, the Marina Master MK II will have a number of special additional features including enhanced alarm systems and hydraulically-operate sponsons.