Posted on February 8, 2021
IHC America announces that it has successfully delivered and commissioned its “Osprey” Water Injection Dredge (WID) to the North Carolina State Ports Authority (NCSPA). The dredge will perform maintenance in the main seaports of Wilmington and Morehead City for maintaining the depths at all berths, wharves and turning basins year-round, which will maximize the vessel tonnage capabilities at these ports. The WID is designed to move sediment utilizing hydrodynamic principles at low cost from the various dredged areas and allowing the natural currents in the channel to move the sediment from these areas, while keeping the material within the Cape Fear River system. The dredge was designed to be low in maintenance and ease of operation per NCSPA requirements.
The vessel was built in Florida and tugged to North Carolina, following dredging demonstration programs in both the Ports of Wilmington and Morehead City. Mark Blake, Vice President, Engineering & Maintenance for North Carolina Ports was instrumental in working closely with IHC-Americas’ Project Manager Brandon Huber. Brandon said, “The dredging trials results exceeded all customer expectations, showing a very strong production performance of the dredge. IHCA’s Engineer, Mike Wendt said, “The production is monitored by an automated dredging measurement system package installed onboard the dredger and the operator can follow real time the operation parameters and production levels.”
“The delivery of this dredge is an important milestone for IHCA, since it is the first Jones Act compliant IHC vessel, with 100% built in the USA and despite COVID 19 challenges, the local project team delivered the project ahead of schedule and to the satisfaction of NCSPA” said Rafael Vorcaro, Operations Director of IHC America.
IHCA’s Brandon Huber & NCSPA’s Mark Blake
For more information please contact:
sales@IHC-America.com
Tel: (713) 239-0931. IHC
America is a subsidiary of Royal IHC, a supplier with over 300 years of innovative and efficient equipment, vessels and services for dredging, offshore and wet miningmarkets.
