The brand new cutter suction dredger Willem van Rubroeck started its very first assignment under owner Jan De Nul Group by working on a project in Mauritania.
In the port of the capital Nouakchott, the vessel is working for developer ARISE Mauritania on the deepening of the access channel, the port basin, and the new berth alongside the new ARISE port terminal.
Willem van Rubroeck will pre-cut the hard seabed, after which the trailing suction hopper dredger James Cook will dredge up the cut material. The duo, assisted by the barges Pinta, Boussole, L'Aigle, and Le Guerrier, will remove a total of three million cubic metres of hard soil.
During the summer months of July and August, Willem van Rubroeck and James Cook will briefly move to the more northerly port city of Nouadhibou to dredge rock banks in the three-kilometre-long outer channel for mining company Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière (SNIM). In September and October, both vessels will return to Nouakchott to complete the works for ARISE.
