Replenishment

LOW CARBON BEACH REPLENISHMENT AT OSTEND

Trailing suction hopper dredger Alexander von Humboldt will bring some 600,000 cubic metres of dredged sand to Belgium’s Ostend beach, running on sustainable drop-in biofuel

Jan De Nul’s dredger will run on 100% sustainable drop-in biofuel, thus reducing CO2 emissions by 90%. The bulldozers and excavators on the beach are equipped with advanced exhaust gas fi lter systems that reduce the emission of fi ne dust and nitrogen by 80%. The site offi ces for the project management team are of the latest generation, equipped with well-insulated materials and a heat pump, which also reduces the energy consumption by 80%.

For this contract, environmental impact was an important award criterion, given MDK’s long-term vision on coastal protection: Flanders must prepare today for the consequences of climate change by strengthening the coasts and at the same time reducing the causes to the maximum extent possible.

With our tender as well as the execution of this contract, we show that we are ‘‘ ready for the future and can dredge and replenish in a sustainable way

Bart Praet, Head of Dredging Department Benelux at Jan De Nul Group said: “In 2019, we led the way in our sector by having a 15% CO2 reduction requirement included in Flemish dredging contracts by 2022. With our tender as well as the execution of this contract, we show that we are ready for the future and can dredge and replenish in a sustainable way. We show other clients that these measures are feasible and affordable. If we want to protect ourselves against rising sea levels in the long term, we must act now. The reduction of emissions simply cannot be optional anymore.”

The dredger Alexander von Humboldt will be moored in the port of Ostend and will pump the dredged sand to the beach via a floating pipeline. This will allow a faster completion of the works, as the dredger will be able to work continuously. Because it is working within the sheltered harbour area, the vessel does not have to wait for high tide to access the coast. The execution time can therefore be shortened from 6 weeks to 5 weeks.

Each seven hours, the Alexander von Humboldt will supply sand over a 1.5 km section of beach, starting at the western harbour dam and moving on towards Thermae Palace.

8 Jan De Nul

executed identical sustainable beach replenishment works in Raversijde and Knokke

Platform decommissioning

A marine civil engineering specialist has been awarded the contract to decommission two North Sea platforms it installed 25 years ago.

Heerema Marine Contractors has announced that DNO has awarded a decommissioning contract for the integrated engineering, preparation, removal, and disposal (EPRD) of the Ketch and Schooner platforms.

Michel Hendriks, Heerema’s Decommissioning Director, said: “Heerema is proud to be the contractor of choice for the decommissioning of the Ketch and Schooner platforms. The EPRD award is the result of our ambition to remove offshore

8 The Ketch and Schooner platforms are located

in the Southern North Sea in the UK sector and were installed by Heerema in the 1990s

structures of all sizes in a safe and sustainable manner. We are especially pleased to contribute to the circularity of the project by being the installation and removal contractor, which is in line with our own sustainable circular ambitions.”

The Ketch and Schooner platforms are located in the Southern North Sea in the UK sector and were installed by Heerema in the 1990s. Both platforms are tied-back to the Murdoch complex, which will also be removed by Heerema Marine Contractors.

The Ketch platform is located in a water depth of 54m, and the Schooner platform is located at 71m of water depth. After removal, up to 97% of both structures will be responsibly disposed of by reuse or recycling.

COMBINING SWATH BATHYMETRY AND SIDE SCAN SONAR

A specialist in high resolution sonar imaging systems and underwater technology, has recently introduced a new combined swath bathymetry & side scan sonar system

Following the success of the popular 6205 and 6205s systems, US company EdgeTech says it has redesigned the 6205s2 and achieved a more compact and lighter package with additional features and benefi ts including the options for an integrated INS, the higher resolution frequency pair of 850/1600 kHz, and EdgeTech’s gap-fi ll side scan output.

The EdgeTech 6205s2 produces real time, high resolution, three dimensional maps of the seafloor while providing an enhanced and fully integrated swath bathymetry and dual frequency side scan sonar system. The new system is claimed to be unrivalled in its swath coverage in shallow water when compared to other single head bathymetry-only systems. The system offers co-registered dual frequency side scan and bathymetry with swath coverages up to 200° with a selection of equidistant and equiangle output options. Additionally, the 6205s2 is the only bathymetry system to now offer EdgeTech’s motion tolerant side scan sonar feature for operation in more adverse weather conditions. The new 6205s2 is ideally suited to compact USV (unmanned surface vehicles) projects, especially those looking to achieve bathymetry, side scan and sub bottom profiler datasets with a single data-pass.

Additionally, according to EdgeTech, the data outputs of the 6205s2 are accepted by most third-party acquisition and post processing software packages.

8 EdgeTech 6205s2

Combined Swath Bathymetry & Side Scan Sonar System

Small vessel and USV optimised survey software

Danish hydrographic survey specialist company EIVA has released a new entrylevel version of its popular hydrographic survey software.

A new NaviSuite Kuda Core software variant provides advanced hydrographic survey software capabilities tailored to support hydrographic surveys using a single USV or small survey vessel using multi-beam echosounder (including backscatter), LiDAR and/or camera. EIVA claims this software solution is simple to configure and run, affordable for entry-level survey professionals and provides advanced hydrographic survey features from NaviSuite Kuda software.

Software features for automated, efficient hydrographic surveys

8 EIVA’s NaviSuite Kuda Core promises advanced

hydrographic survey software capabilities at an entry-level price

Users can improve the efficiency of their surveys with software tools for remote operations, including autopilot route planning and onboard processing; real-time optimisation of survey area coverage and automatic data cleaning. Additionally the system can support automatic data processing workflows, patch testing for multi-beam calibration and offers easy registration and classification of observations.

Additionally the list of bundle variants includes NaviSuite Kuda Pro, which supports more complex survey spreads at a reduced price, and + Processing variants, which provide advanced data processing tools. With this large range of compatible variants, users can upgrade if they scale up operations. Meaning it’s possible to go from a single vessel setup to a large network installation – without changing software.

The new entry level software variant has been attractively priced at €1,998 annually.