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Boskalis’ trailing suction hopper dredger Shoalway has once again proved its unique dredging capabilities with brilliant backfill operation at Borssele.
Once installed, cables and pipelines on the seabed need to be protected from the forces of the sea with rocks or sand.
This also applied to the export cable that connects the Dutch offshore wind farms Borssele 1 and 2 via the TenneT platform to the onshore grid. The strong currents in the Western Scheldt influence the protective sand berm.
Reinforcing the coverage of cables on the seabed is constantly under attention of offshore windfarm and grid operators. And for that job Boskalis’ hopper dredger Shoalway proved to be ideally suited.
Because the vessel can both extract and backfill sand via its suction pipe, the Shoalway was able to precisely deposit the new sand berm on the cable route, making it resistant to erosion for years to come.