Jan De Nul’s new dredger Pancho hits the water

In case you missed it, Dredging Today would like to remind you that Jan De Nul Group’s new water injection dredger Pancho was launched last week at the Neptune Marine shipyard, near Dordrecht, the Netherlands.

The godmother of the vessel, Mrs. Sabrina Fontana Unzueta, partner of Mr. Pieter Jan De Nul, christened the vessel and wished it good luck and a good journey.

Jan Van de Velde, Head of the Newbuilding Department at Jan De Nul Group, said: “The experience with our existing fleet of water injection dredgers taught us that there was a need for a more compact vessel to reach the smaller corners in ports and rivers.”

“However, despite her compact character, the Pancho has a depth range of more than 20 metres. Perfect for maintenance dredging. We are looking forward to the further completion of this new dredger together with the Neptune Marine Shipyard, with the intention of taking the Pancho into service in March 2022.”

The design of this new build vessel is based on an existing vessel design from Neptune’s workboat portfolio.

Together with the engineering department of Neptune, Jan De Nul integrates its in-house built dredging equipment, including the dredge pump and dredge pipes, the winches, hydraulics and the necessary equipment for an adapted pipeline routing on the fore ship.

Meanwhile, Jan De Nul ordered a second water injection dredger, with the same dimensions and characteristics, from the same shipyard.

The Pancho will mainly work in the Argentine dredging market.

Jan De Nul currently has five water injection dredging vessels in its fleet, including the Pancho and another sister vessel under construction at Neptune Marine in the Netherlands.