Page 48: of Marine News Magazine (November 2023)

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Feature

Great Vessels of 2023

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation

GALVESTON ISLAND

Delivered this year amid an ongoing dredge building ed by a USCG requirement for crawl spaces around the boom in the United States, Galveston Island is the ? rst tanks in the event of a leak, Webb noted. “[Urea tanks are] in a series of two new 6,500-cubic-yard-capacity trailing big structures that are very expensive to build; that goes suction hopper dredges (TSHD) designed by C-Job and away with the Wabtec Tier 4. We don’t have those tanks, constructed by Conrad Shipyard for Great Lakes Dredge so designers can use that space for carrying capacity. If it’s a & Dock Corporation as part of the Houston-based dredg- hopper dredge, they can have larger hoppers,” Webb said.

ing contractor’s ? eet renewal program. In con? rming the engine choice, Gunsten said, “In es-

Chris Gunsten, SVP of project services and ? eet en- sence, the hopper dredge is a cargo vessel and it works on gineering, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, said the hopper a cyclical basis multiple times per day. So, the more sand dredge excels at working in offshore conditions and is par- we can carry, the better off we are. Minimizing weight is an ticularly suited for coastal restoration and beach nourish- important consideration for that type of vessel and it links ment. “One really important factor of that type of work is right into the reduced weight of the engine as well as the being close to shore to limit your pumping distances,” he lack of the after treatment (weight).” said, noting the dredge’s relative shallow draft for its capac- The dredge is equipped with a direct high-power pump- ity allows it to get closer to the beach, to be more ef? cient ashore installation, dredging system automation, dynamic and to use less energy to get the work done. positioning and tracking. Gunsten reckons that more than

Central to Galveston Island’s ef? ciency are its Wabtec ever software and cloud computing are central to dredging

EPA Tier 4 powerplants, engines that achieve performance ef? ciency. “Having a new modern vessel with a modern without the need for urea. “We wanted to get as ef? cient dredge control and monitoring system (DCMS) allows us as possible without the need for the urea after treatments to optimize,” he said. “Bridging on that and working into that are at costly and cumbersome to manage at times,” this new cloud-based world, she can broadcast that data

Gunsten explained. “These engines also have the biofuel and we can access that anywhere in the world, speci? cally capacity. That’s not widely available in a lot of markets here at our headquarters in Houston, where we plan to set [now] but they have that option.” up a data center to look at that information and have our

The removal of aftertreatment, according to Patrick Webb, experts analyze that real time. [This means] there’s no lag senior director sales - global marine and stationary at Wabtec, in those optimizations [and we] get the most out of the makes the system smaller and simpler for the customer. “So investment in this new vessel.” we reduce that cost, that operation complexity and make it The newbuild will replace one of the older hopper much simpler to operate with a plug-and-play medium speed dredges in the Great Lakes ? eet, Terrapin Island, which 900 RPM engine system,” he said. “We’ve tried to make is scheduled to has been taken out of service following build and design this engine to ? t in a lot of our competitor’s a 42-year working history. A sister-ship to Galveston footprints from the last 50 years of legacy engines.” Island is currently under construction at Conrad, with

Urea tanks can range up to 10,000 gallons, compound- steel cut in late 2022 and expected delivery in 2025.

48 | MN November 2023