Trailing suction hopper dredger HAM 317 launched

This event took place at the shipbuilding yard of IHC Holland N.V. in Kinderdijk, the Netherlands. The new ship has a hopper capacity of 4,500 cubic metres. Its loading capacity at its maximum draught of 7.12 metre comes to 6,780 tons. HAM invested a total amount of fifty million Dutch guilders in the building of the new HAM 317. The company owns a diverse fleet of dredging equipment for the execution of projects around the world.

The HAM 317 is 95.50 metres long. This is not very long for a ship with such loading capacity, it makes the vessel very suitable for maintenance and deepening work in smaller seaports. For the execution of land reclamation and sand supply projects, the ship is equipped with a shore delivery pump. In order to be able to unload in shallow water, a sluice valve is mounted in both overflows, this makes it possible to unload without opening the bottom doors. As the ship can carry approximately 3,200 tons in water depths of up to five metres, the HAM 317 is suitable for so-called outer shore replenishments, part of coastal protection works.

The ship was baptised by Mrs M.J. Koeman - Hofman, wife of HAM-director J.J. Koeman, after which it was launched into the water. The construction of the ship will be completed at the IHC-shipyard in Kinderdijk, the Netherlands. Mid-April 2000 the HAM 317 is ready to go to work on a sand supply project for the realignment of a port railway near Barendrecht, the Netherlands.

HAM, dredging and marine contractors is active in the areas of construction and maintenance of ports and waterways, land reclamation and beach replenishment, coastal and embankment protection work and dredging related offshore activities. The company is a group company of HBG, Hollandsche Beton Groep nv.

For further information, please contact:

Arno C. Pronk at HBG Public Relations, telephone +31 70 3722121.