IMMH

Trailing hopper suction dredger Wado

Trailing hopper suction dredger Wado. One of the treasures from our depot is the shipyard model of the trailing hopper suction dredger „Wado“ from 1972. It was built in Hamburg in the workshop of Christel Stührmann in a 1:132 scale.


One of the treasures from our depot is the shipyard model of the trailing hopper suction dredger „Wado“ from 1972. It was built in Hamburg in the workshop of Christel Stührmann in 1:132 scale.

The name of this type of ship is quite long and is sometimes abbreviated as THSD. Allow us to explain its parts. The ship is a „dredger“, i.e. it is used to clean or dredge the bottom of coastal areas, harbours or rivers. This is done to create sufficient water depth to allow larger vessels to navigate in these areas. It is a „hopper“ because it has a hold (hopper = for magazine, container, bunker etc.) in which it can transport the sediments it takes from the bottom of the water on board itself. Some dredgers do not have such a hopper. They take the sediments out of the water and unload them onto adjacent lighters (driftless, floating cargo containers). They are then not „hoppers“. The „suction“ and „trailing“ parts of the name refer to the way the vessel dislodges the sediment from the bottom of the water. In simple terms, this vessel works like a giant, seagoing hoover. It pulls (trailing) a suction head that is lowered onto the waterbed and pumps the sediment through a pipe into its hold.  

The „Wado“ was built at the IHC Smit shipyard Kinderdijk in the Netherlands for the Hamburg branch of the German construction company Hochtief AG. She measures 6,829 GRT, has a length of 128.5m and a breadth of 18.8m. She has two engines with a total power of 10,369 kW and a top speed of 14.2 knots when fully loaded. Her holds have a capacity of 6,803 m³ and her two suction pipes with a diameter of 1 m can operate at a depth of 25 m (this can be extended to 33 m if required). Until 2005, the ship flew the German flag for Hochtief AG. In that year it was sold to the Malaysian dredging company Inai Kiara Sdn Bhd and renamed „Inai Tulip“. As far as we know, the ship is still in service today under the Malaysian flag.