Middle East Dredging Company (Medco), which operates a fleet of modern dredging vessels, has acquired a new heavy-duty cutter suction dredger (CSD) at ASL Shipyard in Singapore.

Medco, formerly known as Qatar Dredging Company (QDC), will register the vessel Al Jarraf, which means ‘the dredging vessel’ in Arabic, in Qatar, where a formal name-giving ceremony is scheduled at the time of commissioning early next year.

The new cutter dredger will be an additional and powerful competitive tool for Medco in future infrastructure projects in the Gulf region and beyond.

“Medco is currently involved in the preparation and tendering process for two major, upcoming projects in the Gulf region – the New Doha Port Project Access Channel Dredging & Outer Breakwaters and the Qatar Bahrain Causeway Project, for which Al Jarraf will be a major asset,” said Abdulrahman Abdullah Abdulghani, Medco’s chairman.

“Medco invested heavily in Al Jarraf and its auxiliary equipment to be well prepared for these major projects in Qatar,” he added.

The new dredger is self-propelled, allowing it to sail on its own power between various working locations within the Gulf, without requiring the assistance of powerful tugboats. At the same time, the new cutter dredger is of the heavy-duty type – featuring no less than 12.860 kW of total installed power.

The combination of these two characteristics is a Medco trump card for competitive dredging hard rock formations that are typical in Gulf waters, the statement said.

The 102 x 21 meter dredger has an integrated barge loading facility provides extra flexibility, as Al Jarraf will be able to discharge both through the traditional floating pipeline and directly into a barge that would moor alongside the dredger.

Secondly, the discharge power has significantly increased in comparison with the current Medco flag- dredger, Al Mahaar. This increased discharge power allows for covering significantly larger distances between the dredging area and the reclamation area when pumping ashore.

CSD Al Jarraf is able to dredge the sea bed at depths up to a maximum of 30 metres, according to the statement. – TradeArabia News Service