Southern Shipbuilding Center, part of United Shipbuilding Corporation, has signed a contract with State Transport Leasing Company for building six Design 93.159A self-propelled dredgers with an interchangeable cutter/rotary bucket ripper, USC said in a statement.
The order was placed at Lotos Shipyard in Astrakhan. The first three vessels are to be delivered in 2025, with three more to follow in 2026. The design was developed by Russian marine engineers and the shipboard equipment to be installed will be of Russian make.
The vessels will be deployed for dredging muddy, sandy and sandy-gravel soils, to clean river and canals from sediment, to dredge channels and for other hydrotechnical projects.
Vessel particulars:
- LOA: no less than 55 meters;
- Beam: no less than 12 meters;
- Draft: no less than 1.3 meter;
- Dredging depth: 2 t0 10 meters;
- Pipeline diameter: no more than 550 mm.
At present, Lotos is building four rotary and cutter suction dredgers (Design 93.159 and Design 93.159.1), the first vessel is now undergoing mooring trials.
Photo: courtesy of USC