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Damen inks contract for first European dredger LNG dual-fuel conversion

Damen inks contract for first European dredger LNG dual-fuel conversion
Damen Shiprepair and Conversion has won the first European contract to convert a dredger to dual-fuel for Rouen-based GIE Dragages-Ports.

The 117 m, 8,500 cu m trailing suction hopper dredger Samuel de Champlain will be converted to dual-fuel for LNG and MGO next year at Damen Shiprepair Dunkerque.

The 2002-built vessel is based in Grand Maritime Port of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire.

The conversion is being subsidised by the European Commission’s Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) via its Connecting Europe Facility programme.

To get the the funding, GIE Dragages-Ports formed a 12-member Franco-Spanish consortium called the S/F SamueLNG for a Blue Atlantic Arch project with the aim of promoting the use of LNG by small-scale vessels active on the Atlantic coasts of Spain and France.

“The consortium allows us to share experience with our partners and to access the support from INEA, without which this project would not have been possible,” said Jean-Pierre Guellec, ceo of GIE Dragages-Ports. “We hope that this conversion will demonstrate to other short-sea vessels the benefits of conversion to LNG and mark the first stage of the development of an LNG bunkering network on the Atlantic coast of mainland Europe.”

The conversion is scheduled for autumn next year.