Servicing the dredging industry

Photo courtesy of DC Dredging.

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF WESCO UNLESS MENTIONED OTHERWISE.

Wesco IJmuiden was founded in 1984. Throughout the years, the company has built a large track record in the design, engineering, construction, installation, as well as maintenance and repair of dredging equipment. In doing so, it attracted many leading companies in the dredging and ofshore industry, including DC Dredging. As Diederik van Halsema, Fleet Manager of DC Dredging, explains, “With our dredging vessels, we are a regular customer of Wesco. They visit IJmuiden for regular planned maintenance and overhaul, for repairs and for mobilisation and demobilisation services.”

Trailing suction hopper dredger DC Ostend recently visited Wesco for various planned service works. Unexpected issues that came to light were also taken care of. The job was done and the vessel was back into service within three weeks. According to Jeroen Hilgers, Project

Manager of Wesco, this is one of the company’s strengths. “Of course, when we are working on a vessel’s dredging equipment, we look further than just the planned service. As we are often working together with the vessel’s crew, we discuss with them what other unexpected parts need to be serviced and we take care of this as well. During a project, dredgers often have to deal with damaged and broken equipment, and it is our strength to be able to act swiftly and fexible to have the vessels back in business as soon as possible.”

Mr Hilgers continues, “With our experienced and think-along team of engineers, we always come up with a solution, no matter how. For DC Dredgers, for example, we took care of replacing the entire suction pipe of the Margaret Ann that was damaged during a project. The pipe consisted of two pieces of 12m by 550mm. Within three days, we removed the damaged pipe, designed and constructed a new one, and installed it on the vessel. The delay for DC Dredging could hence be minimised. In another situation, we constructed a temporary dredge pump impeller. This one was not as wear resistant as the original one, but it helped the dredger to fnish the job, while an original part could be ordered meanwhile.”

According to Peter Wempe, Sales Manager at Wesco, it is not just the expertise and skills of the Wesco team that makes the company a valued partner for the dredging industry. “We try to unburden our customer as much as possible for each project. This means we take care of various additional issues, such as arranging a berth for the vessel that needs to be serviced. To do so, it helps that we have a good relationship with the port authority. We are part of the Breman Machinery Group since July 2021, which enables us to make use of the quay and workshop facilities of Breman Ofshore located just 200m away from us. Also, when necessary, in our region (IJmuiden is part of the port of Amsterdam) we can work with a broad range of companies that can help us with additional services such as crane and generator rental companies, >>

hydraulics and electrotechnical service companies, as well as divers.”

Today, many dredging companies also operate in the ofshore wind industry, and in their wake Wesco has also moved towards this business. “Since the upcoming ofshore wind industry,” Mr Hilgers says, “we have been servicing more and more ofshore installation vessels. Like dredging vessels, this type of vessel is also demobilised and mobilised before each new installation project. And because of the harsh circumstances at sea, repair and maintenance of the equipment is also a regular necessity. Next to this, we also service other types of vessels on a regular base, so although we are known for our dredger activities, our scope is actually much wider.”

Although Wesco also has customers abroad, so far the company’s focus has been on the Netherlands. However, if it is up to Mr Wempe, this will soon change. “It is our ambition to expand our foreign activities. With our skills and know-how, we have built an excellent reputation among our current customers. A reputation we can use for expanding our business on an international level.” Talking about a good reputation, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and therefore Mr Van Halsema has the fnal say, “We have been working with Wesco IJmuiden for quite some years now. Being satisfed with their fast, fexible, thorough, and collaborative way of working, we know that our dredging vessels are in good hands with them, which is why we look forward to a further fruitful partnership.”