Experiences with another PALLIETER-class TSHD

• BRABO, her looks and her crew
• Versatile jobs
• Design highlights
• 2nd generation of one man-operated bridge
• The family is growing

BRABO, her looks and her crew
On 2 December 2007 Captain Franky Peeters and his team started working with their brand new, brightly green-and-white coloured 11,650m³ trailing suction hopper dredger BRABO, built at IHC Dredgers’ yard at Kinderdijk, the Netherlands. Like the other DEME-owned ships in the successful PALLIETER series, she is named after a personage in the Flemish literary history, a Roman soldier named Silvius Brabo, who allegedly killed giant Druon Antigoon, legendary oppressor of then Antwerp.

Like her sisters, BRABO immediately catches attention by her large bulbous bow (figure 2), which seems a little bit exaggerated, however is in fact a very multifunctional feature of the vessel’s design. It provides buoyancy for accommodation and bridge, which are combined in the forecastle (figure 1). Together with the gondolas for the propellers (figure 3) it furthermore gives the ship an IHC Merwede developed very smooth hydrodynamic profile which serves sailing speed and the reduction of fuel consumption. Finally, according to her captain it assists the vessel during hopper loading in facilitating reduction of trim and subsequent overflow erosion losses, as the overflow duct has been placed at the hopper front side.

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