The TSHD Sospan Dau is a Dutch

trailing suction hopper dredger A trailing suction hopper dredger is a ship that has a full sailing capacity used to maintain navigable waterways, deepening the maritime canals that are threatened to become silted, to construct new land elsewhere or to replace sand eroded by s ...

owned by Sosban BV. The vessel has worked on

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

projects, including offshore aggregates, port maintenance,

land reclamation Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...

, coastal defense and

beach replenishment Beach nourishment (also referred to as beach renourishment, beach replenishment, or sand replenishment) describes a process by which sediment, usually sand, lost through longshore drift or erosion is replaced from other sources. A wider beach can ...

. The name ''Sospan Dau'' is Welsh and originates from

Sosban Fach Sosban Fach (Welsh for "little saucepan") is a traditional Welsh folk song. It is one of the best-known and most often sung songs in the Welsh language. The song is based on a verse written by Mynyddog in 1873 as part of his song ''Rheolau yr Ae ...

and

Llanelli Llanelli ("St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. ...

's tin plating industry, Sospan being the Welsh for Saucepan and ''Dau'' being Welsh for Two as the ship is a successor to the original Sospan.

Equipment

The ship has a traditional twin

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

stern and

bow thruster Manoeuvering thruster (bow thruster or stern thruster) is a transversal propulsion device built into, or mounted to, either the bow or stern, of a ship or boat to make it more manoeuvrable. Bow thrusters make docking easier, since they allow th ...

for manoeuvering and like most trailing dredgers, includes bottom doors for dumping, a dredge engine, a jet water engine, a degassing installation, a suction pipe and associated pipelines and

valves A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

. Unique to most dredgers however, is a very large

bulbous bow A bulbous bow is a protruding bulb at the bow (or front) of a ship just below the waterline. The bulb modifies the way the water flows around the hull, reducing drag and thus increasing speed, range, fuel efficiency, and stability. Large ships ...

and spud pole for more efficient use of the dredge pump and heading/position keeping during beaching.

Projects

In 2014 & 2015 the ''Sospan Dau'' created the

Cowes Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floa ...

Harbour

breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island Breakwater Island () is a small island in the Palme ...

.http://www.cowesharbourcommission.co.uk/content/S635513075631866068/The_Perfect_Project_IHS_Dredging_and_Port_Construction.pdf

References

External links

* http://www.dredgingtoday.com/2013/04/18/video-dredger-sospan-dau-at-work-uk/ Dredgers Service vessels of the United Kingdom Papendrecht {{ship-stub