A 1987 U.S. built Hopper Dredger with a New Life Ahead
By far not the elegance and evolution of its namesake: the beautiful giant ray feeding on plankton that, although becoming endangered, is a delight to see when it “flies” through the oceans. This specific Manta Ray is a rugged diesel-electric hopper dredger built in the United States in 1987, engineered not for elegance, but for strength, longevity and hard work.
The Manta Ray is the former R.N. Weeks, built at McDermott shipyard. It is neither fancy nor elegant, rather blunt and with the sole purpose of pumping up as much sand and sediment as possible and discharging it by splitting its’ twin hulls or pumping ashore. A true U.S. built vessel: oversized steel, proven technology, diesel electric with Niigata thrusters and electric pump drives. In short: built to last.
With the vessel having started a new lease of life in Nigeria, lasting is what she does. The rudimentary technology and built have the advantage that there isn’t much that can break down and would be hard to fix. With 5 generators, there is ample spare capacity. To get the vessel to Nigeria proved to be a different feat.
REDWISE had been contacted nearly two years prior her sailing for an initial quote, which was for another destination. But following a failed sale, the current owners came into play, Messrs. DredgingAtlantic Ltd of Nigeria purchased the vessel in the beginning of 2025. With the vessel having been laid up for years, a full reactivation, classification and certification was required. To the satisfaction of ABS class and Marine Warranty Surveyors Messrs. Vogtschmidt appointed by the underwriters. REDWISE was responsible for the full turnkey package: taking over, reactivation, taking out insurance and sailing the vessel under own power to Nigeria.
With the vessel having a maximum speed of 8 knots only - in fine weather- the voyage was never going to be fast. But neither was the reactivation and the lead time for it. Redwise uses its’ own experienced crew members, specialized in taking over-sailing over-handing over of vessels. The first challenge was to get sufficient experienced and qualified men and women together at the same time and for an extended period that not only were capable, but also eligible to US visas or in possession of US visas. These are becoming increasingly scares as hen’s teeth in the current geopolitical climate.
This was the 3rd reactivation for Redwise in the US in the past year and a half, taking nearly 5 weeks with start-up and trials of generators, propulsion motors, control and monitoring panels, replacement of radar components that all needed to be sourced with the given age. Servicing and replacement of (fixed) firefighting and lifesaving equipment, hull- and tank cleaning with fuel oil that had been festering in a warm subtropical climate and general ship keeping. ABS proved to be very helpful and pragmatic during the whole process of reactivation. Especially with certification for an international voyage for a vessel that was US Coast Guard certified, apart from Class and Loadline. The actual voyage via Dominica and Fort de France took the vessel to the rendez-vous point with the security vessel off Nigeria with are delivery on Christmas Day, repatriating the crew after a total period of 110 days from home with a partial crew change at the Caribbean Islands.
A big thank you to our crew and superintendent, principal’s DAL who followed through in the whole process, Boogaard brokers,Weeks Maritime, ABS, Anchor insurance, Bureau Vogtschmidt, A. Nobel & Zn. and many other suppliers and vendors.
