Royal IHC has delivered two mining screen towers of a new design for Spaansen’s Yed Prior. The Yed Prior was converted from a container feeder into a gravel hopper dredger.
Spaansen Marine Aggregates purchased the 750 TEU container vessel Gerd on 2 October 2018 for conversion into a gravel hopper dredger with a hopper capacity of approximately 6000 m3. The vessel arrived in Harlingen from Ceuta on 6 November for the first phase of the conversion, which was carried out by Spaansen in cooperation with Bijlsma Marine Services.
The vessel was then towed to Delfzijl on 16 March 2020 for further finishing at Royal Niestern Sander. HollandMT was contracted for the complete hydraulic system including the engineering of the system, delivery of the power pack and all other hydraulic components, delivery and installation of piping and hoses and the commissioning of the system.
New dredging system and screen towers
The ship conversion included installation of a new dredging system designed by Royal IHC, sand and gravel screens and a dry unloading system. For this project HollandMT supplied a state-of-the art 850 mm dragarm system with a submerged KSB/GIW dredge pump with a capacity of 12,000 m3 per hour enabling a maximum dredging depth of 40 metres. The delivery also included 3 gantries and electric powered winches. On 8 June the 140 tonnes dragarm was hoisted onboard TSHD Yed Prior.
Royal IHC was contracted for the design and delivery of two mining screen towers. The screen decks will be twice as large as the standard design and cylinders will be added to remotely adjust the screening angle. In addition, the screen deck has been made out of two sections to optimise the flow. The areas with the highest wear are being redesigned so that they can easily be maintained. All these upgrades will ensure a high separation efficiency, resulting in obtaining higher volumes of gravel with a higher value.
The dredging trials took place two weeks ago. See the screen towers in action in the video below.
Picture (top) by Flying Focus.
