Four self propelled split hopper barges named after the famous Dutch engineers Jan Blanken, Jan Leeghwater, Pieter Caland and Cornelis Lely were christened on 27 March last in Dalian, China.
The ceremonies were performed by Mrs M.G. Kloet, wife of area director J. Kloet, Mrs. M.W. Schaart, wife of staff director J. Schaart, Mrs. H.B. Krekt, wife of area manager for China L.J. Krekt and Mrs J.M. Smidt, partner of project manager T.J.M. de Boer.
The
ships, each with a hopper capacity of 2,850 cubic metres, were built under IHC
management. Together with the backhoe Goliath the Jan Blanken and Jan Leeghwater
will be deployed on the harbour deepening project in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as of the summer of
2010. After final construction the Pieter Caland and Cornelis Lely will be
operational mid 2010. The ships form part of Van Oord's EUR 1 billion investment
programme for 2007-2011.
