DREDGING VESSELS & EQUIPMENT
Spartacus does justice to her name
SPARTACUS IS A CUTTER SUCTION DREDGER (CSD) THAT HAS BEEN UNDER CONSTRUCTION SINCE 2017 TO ENTER IN SERVICE FOR DEME. SHE IS THE LARGEST AND MOST POWERFUL SHIP OF HER TYPE IN THE WORLD. THE VESSEL MEASURES 164M LONG AND HAS A TOTAL POWER OUTPUT OF 44,180KW. SHE IS POWERED BY four Wärtsilä 46DF and two Wärtsilä 20DF engines, which can operate on liquefied natural gas, diesel fuel or heavy fuel oil, and she is the first CSD to be LNG-fuel capable. She can dredge at depths of up to 45m, which is 10m deeper than any previous CSD design. ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF DEME.
D
eme ordered Spartacus in March 2017 from Dutch shipbuilder Royal IHC to a design jointly developed by Deme, Royal IHC, and Vuyk Engineering Rotterdam. Her keel was laid in December at Royal IHC’s shipyard in Krimpen aan den IJssel and she was launched in November 2018. She was expected to enter service by mid-2019, but the pandemic and some unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances significantly
2 8 | S B I 2 0 2 1 | Volum e 15 | Issue 3
Deme.indd 28
delayed this. Finally, the time has come for Deme to officially launch Spartacus with an official naming ceremony.
Celebration
Although it was impossible to engage in Deme’s traditional naming festivities and family day given the COVID-19 restrictions, Deme was honoured that Mrs Annik Penders, spouse of Belgian Prime Minister
Alexander De Croo, accepted the role of the new vessel’s godmother. The naming ceremony, organised in May 2021, still managed to capture the spirit of the occasion with all the traditional rituals as Mrs Penders gracefully smashed a bottle of champagne against the hull. Luc Vandenbulcke, CEO of Deme Group, shares, “Spartacus was designed with three main priorities at her core: pushing the
s h i p b u i l d i n g -i n d u s tr y. e u
17-06-2021 12:14
