Damen’s first dredger for Australia on way to Gippsland Ports

A Damen Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger (TSHD) 650 has successfully completed sea trials in Shanghai and is now underway to new owner, Gippsland Ports in Australia, on her own keel, Damen announced. The TSHD, named Tommy Norton, is the company’s first dredger built for Australia.

Having left Shanghai on 14th July, a Damen team is sailing Tommy Norton approximately 5,000 nautical miles over a period of approximately 30 days to reach Australia. 

Damen’s team has made extensive preparations for the voyage, including voyage planning, draught and stability calculations, weather routing, establishing of a maintenance schedule and checking all on board equipment to take into account, according to Captain Martin van Krieken.

Mr Van Krieken also highlights that safety is given the highest priority during these preparations, with the setting up of an International Safety Management (ISM) and an International Ship and Port Security (ISPS) system, both of which are certified by Bureau Veritas prior to departure.

“This includes rollout of a number of drills – including abandon ship, man overboard, fire, emergency steering, collision, oil spills, grounding and piracy. Nothing is left to chance”, he said.