JEDDAH: Transported aboard a semi-submersible heavy-lift ship, the world's biggest in class cutter suction dredger, Al-Saka,b arrived off Jeddah port on Thursday.
The dredger was due to be offloaded on Thursday, but sea conditions prevented it. A second attempt will be made on Friday if conditions improve.
Commissioned in 2007 by the Saudi Huta Group, Al-Sakab's keel was laid in December 2008 and was launched in October 2009 in Rotterdam. Since then she has been fitted with the huge cutter-suction unit that will give her the capability to cut into bedrock to a depth of 25 meters.
Al-Sakab carries a crew of 28 that allows her to operate independently for long periods without being serviced by tenders. At 124.5 meters and over 3,500 tons displacement, she can produce 22,000 horsepower to drive the massive cutting and dredging equipment on board. This gives her the capability to remove in excess of 20,000 cubic meters of rock a day, depending on local conditions, and deposit it, pumped by pipeline, into adjacent barges or to a dump up to five kilometers away.
The dredger will form part of the expanding Huta Marine fleet and be used in the construction of ports and berths along Kingdom's coasts.
By ROGER HARRISON
© Arab News 2010
