Hydraulic backhoe dredger Simson was christened today at the Wilhelmina Quay in Rotterdam. The christening ceremony was performed by Mrs D. van Dam-van der Meer, wife of Mr Bart van Dam, who resigned as managing director of MerweOord (the Van Oord family business) on 1 December last. The Simson is a Backacter 1100 – a floating excavator with three spud poles fitted to a pontoon – and the largest category of hydraulic dredging crane in the world. It was designed and built in the Netherlands and will be used to dredge ports and provides services to the offshore industry worldwide.
The vessel is moored alongside the Cruise Terminal next to Van Oord's newest trailing suction hopper dredger, the Vox Máxima. Today Van Oord is holding an ‘open house' in the terminal and on board the Vox Máxima for its employees and their families. A total of approximately 5,000 people will pay a visit to the vessel.
The Simson is the sister ship of the Goliath, launched earlier this year. It will be equipped with a grab that holds 25 m3 of material and can work at a dredging depth of up to 26 m. The total installed engine power is more than 4,000 kW. Simson's first project will be dredging in the port of Flushing, the Netherlands. In total some 3 million m3 will be dredged. Apart from the Simson other equipment will be deployed as well.
Van Oord has undertaken a major investment programme of more than EUR 1 billion. The Vox Máxima and the two backhoes are part of this programme.
To download a high resolution photograph of the christening, please click here to go to our Download centre. You will find the photographs at the bottom of the page.
For more information
A.G.M. Groothuizen, Marketing & Public Relations Manager,
T 31 10 4478234, M 31 6 22497880, E info@vanoord.com
