Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC) held a keel laying ceremony for its new giant trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) a couple of days ago, officially launching the vessel into full assembly phase.
“ This groundbreaking ship represents China’s first self-propelled trailing suction hopper dredger to feature a distributed in-hold dredge pump system ,” ZPMC said.
The impressive specifications include a length of 180 meters, width of 36 meters, with the capability to dredge at depths up to 120 meters and a hopper capacity of 27,580 cubic meters.
The vessel’s twin-engine, twin-propeller, and twin-suction design incorporates advanced automation features, including “one-click dredging” functionality and an integrated dredging and navigation system that enables unmanned operations under normal conditions.
“ Its innovative distributed pump system, combined with dual bow discharge technology, delivers a 30% improvement in dredging efficiency while maintaining low-carbon operations throughout the entire dredging process ,” ZPMC concluded.