In May of 2020, Royal IHC and Weeks Marine Inc. entered into a contract for the engineering and equipment delivery for the 6,540m³ TSHD R.B. WEEKS, currently under construction at the Allanton premises of Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Panama City, Florida. This is an identical vessel to the MAGDALEN that was delivered in 2017. 

On October 27th the IHC Dredge Equipment components were loaded on Lekstroom barge CHRISTINA and transported to the facilities of the Port of Rotterdam, Waalhaven. In the meantime, other truckable- equipment, supplied by IHC DBS and external suppliers from IHC Holland, were gathered in warehouses in the Rotterdam area. Finally, on November 14th all the equipment was loaded on the MV MARSGRACHT, operated by dry cargo specialist Spliethoff, and is currently in transit to Panama City, FL. where it will be installed onboard.

Key components

Like the MAGDALEN, the R.B. WEEKS will be equipped with Royal IHC designed and built equipment, including the complete and highly efficient dredging installation, dredging automation and instrumentation, propulsion, and main electrical system.

During the past year, those key components have been manufactured, assembled, and shop-tested in workshops all over the world. Part of the equipment package (35 sea containers and the suction inlet section) has been sent in 6 separate shipments to the USA already. In close collaboration with Weeks, it was decided that we would consolidate the out-of-gauge equipment in one single shipment. This would limit the transport costs for barge and crane rental for either party.

Technical services

Royal IHC will also provide a number of technical services, including the assistance of its qualified engineers for inspection during installation of the delivered equipment at the shipyard, and support during start-up and commissioning of the dredger. Those activities are scheduled for 2022 and early 2023. The delivery of the R.B. WEEKS is scheduled for early 2023.

Thanks to all of our colleagues involved

“They say effective teamwork begins and ends with communication. During the project we have been constantly communicating about the deliverable status, sharing photos, searching for the best options for Royal IHC and together with Weeks, solving the raised issues or questions with a helpful approach mind set.

We thank to all involved colleagues who made this milestone possible and more than that, we made it all successful for IHC. – Sorina van den Broek-Toader, PM Dredge Equipment