Page 40: of Marine News Magazine (February 2016)

39 41

DREDGING

The McMillan Island Unloading Project required some additional re-out? tting of the Victor Buhr, including the addition of the custom-built thrusters for work along this section of the Mississippi. The project began in early October 2015, and was completed by end of November 2015.

well. The ? rst dredge we bought from DSC Dredge was

Fully Customized

J.F. Brennan began its relationship with DSC Dredge a 12-inch swing ladder cutterhead dredge. We call it our ‘Michael.’ It’s been around for about 20 years, and is still more than 20 years ago, in 1993, after management re- alized the company needed to work with a manufacturer operating with a few modi? cations and improvements that could accommodate its needs for a customized dredge. over the years,” says Binsfeld.

The two DSC dredge model types in the Brennan ? eet “DSC’s willingness to modify its dredges to our needs is why we have stuck with them for so many years,” says re? ect upgrades to the standard DSC Dredge product of- fering: Both models are convertible from swinging ladder

Mark Binsfeld, marketing and business development man- ager for Brennan. “Prior to the DSC dredges, we had more to conventional design. For example, with its hydraulically conventional closed-loop underwater dredges, but all those driven underwater pump assembly, the portable Moray Class have since been sold, and the only units we have now are dredge can be operated conventionally or as a swinging lad- swinging ladder cutterhead dredges from DSC Dredge. All der dredge. It matches the current dredging industry trend of pumping low ? ow-rates with higher-percentage solids. of our dredges are customized to meet the speci? c chal-

Further meeting the demands of today’s dredgers, the Moray lenges we regularly encounter,” he explains.

With manufacturing facilities in Reserve, Louisiana; Class is suited for applications where ? ow rates need to be

Poplarville, Mississippi; and Greenbush, Michigan, DSC minimized, such as for pumping into geotubes or retention areas that do not accommodate large volumes of water.

specializes in out? tting dredges to meet the exact speci-

The Barracuda Class dredge is a swinging ladder dredge ? cations of its customers. In order to meet the needs of

Brennan’s typical job site, DSC customized the company’s that can also be operated conventionally by locking the dredges to all feature high-viscosity cutterheads, booster ladder in place and pivoting on the stern spud, using pumps and a larger cab. In order to ensure the extreme swing wires and anchors, which increases the cut width and dredging ef? ciency. The Barracuda Class dredge offers accuracy that is required for Brennan’s numerous reme- the option of two front-swing winches and has discharge diation dredging projects, DSC developed a special artic- ulated ladder that would allow the cutterhead to operate sizes ranging up to 18 inches. Standard features include parallel with the bottom surface. To increase buoyancy on a user-friendly control panel with a PLC-based operating the dredges, which is especially helpful for shallow-water system and a power up/down spud system with API-rated winch drums for proper cable storage. projects, DSC increased the size of the wing tanks. In addi-

As the namesake of Vic Buhr, Brennan’s Environmen- tion to those upgrades, Brennan also wanted the hydraulic systems for their dredges to be relocated to the dredge deck tal Division manager, the Victor Buhr is fully customized with special features that Buhr was active in designing, as from their standard position in the hull’s wing tanks.

he worked with the engineers at DSC and Brennan. These “DSC hasn’t just built new dredges for us; they have ac- tually helped us modify current dredges that we have, as custom features include:

High-viscosity cutterhead … at a glance 12-inch by 12-inch discharge pipe Articulated ladder allows cutterhead to operate parallel to bottom surface

Wing tanks on pontoons add stability Maximum dredging depth of 36’ w/24-foot dredging depth in articulated, swinging “surgical” dredging mode

Custom cab area, built to order Front spuds with gates to eliminate the need for removing the spuds from the sockets, and instead pulling the dredge from side to side

Customized PLC controls Hydraulic systems relocated to dredge deck

Custom thrusters for deep river ops Cab accommodates additional circuitry & hard drives

February 2016

MN 40

MN Feb16 Layout 32-49.indd 40 1/21/2016 11:38:06 AM