Van Oord laid the keel of its giant self-propelled cutter suction dredger, Athena, today. Ms H. Vos-van Genderen, wife of Mr P.F. Vos, retired Van Oord Plant Design and Construction Manager, performed the keel-laying ceremony at the IHC Dredgers B.V. shipyard in Kinderdijk (Netherlands).
The vessel - which will have an overall length of 129 m, a beam of 27.80 m, and total installed power of 24,000 kW - will be one of the most powerful and innovative cutter suction dredgers in the world and the biggest cutter in the Van Oord fleet.
The first piece of steel was ceremonially cut on 11 August 2009.
The keel-laying is the second milestone in the construction process.
The cutter will be operational in October 2011.
The new cutter will boost Van Oord's position in this important market segment. Its construction was part of Van Oord's
EUR 1 billion investment programme for 2007-2011.
