(GORINCHEM, Netherlands) — Damen Dredging Equipment has delivered DOP submersible dredge pumps to many dredging contractors around the world. As a result, an enormous variety of dredging projects have been brought to a successful conclusion. Currently, an interesting project is being undertaken by the Dutch contractor Martens & Van Oord in Cadzand, the Netherlands. The project has quite a challenge in store: unexploded ordnance (UXO).
The village of Cadzand is located in the south west of the Netherlands, on the shores of the North Sea. Its old marina entrance needed to be updated and the harbor was to be deepened. Not a simple job taking into account that conventional World War II explosives were hidden in the seabed. Martens & Van Oord was up for the job, using a DOP submersible dredge pump in the process.
The DOP350 was attached to one of Martens & Van Oord’s pontoon-based excavators. The DOP pumped the bottom material — sand and occasionally UXOs — to a reinforced screening installation. From there, another Damen pump was used to bring the screened sand further to replenish the nearby shores. The choice for using the DOP was a simple one: The submersed dredge pump ensures a continuous process (in UXO-areas) contrary to mechanical dredging.
For sand mining purposes, a somewhat customized sand mining head with plenty of jetwater was fitted. This DOP head was designed for mining a maximum concentration using pressurized water to fluidize the bottom material.
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