The new dredger is lifted.
The "Cygnus" series consists of a range of innovative, fully electric cutter suction dredgers with power outputs from 700 to 3525 kVA.
The diameter of the suction pipe ranges from 450 mm to 750 mm.
The dredger that has now been launched is of the type Cygnus 500.
Being fully electric, it can be powered by means of a shore connection to either the power grid or a shore based generator set.
With all components being electrically driven, there are no hydraulic fluids or other pollutants onboard, making it highly environmental friendly.
Its concept is modular, which makes it flexible in adaptation to specific client demands.
Hitting the water.
It was finally the Dekker Groep from IJzendoorn (The Netherlands) that by the end of 2025 decided to buy it.
Having been founded more than 100 years ago, the family owned Dekker Groep has a long tradition in the dredging of sand, gravel and clay as well as in landscaping.
Most of its mining locations are located along the many rivers in The Netherlands although it also has projects in Germany and France along the river Rhine.
The new dredger of DE Klop fits perfectly in the plans of the Dekker Groep with respect to one of its major projects.
Already since 2023, it is working on the project Willemspolder, which consists of the combination of the extraction of building material, landscaping and nature development in an area of 12 kilometers along the river Waal, an area that coincidentally is located near the company's main office in IJzendoorn.
One of the major components of this project consists of dredging a side channel along the river and with respect to this, Dekker Groep and Rijkswaterstaat (part of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management) closed a unique deal.
In fact, as part of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD), Rijkswaterstaat has the obligation to realise projects to enhance the water quality in its national waterways.
In The Netherlands this is known as KRW, which stands for "Kader Richtlijn Water".
Being beneficial for both parties, it has however for the Dekker Groep a challenging consequence, it means that the side channel has to be completed before 2030 instead of the originally planned 2032.
Not only does the "Cygnus" type dredger meets all technical and operational demands of the Dekker Groep, the fact that the first unit was already nearing its completion and is scheduled to be available by mid February 2026, meant that the new time schedule of the Willemspolder project can also be met.
The new dredger is scheduled to be town to IJzendoorn approx. a week after the launch where after some trials it can start working on the side channel.
Mrs. Lissane van den Broek and Mrs. Laura Wesenberg.
At the occasion of the launch, also the name giving ceremony took place.
It were two members of the latest generation of the Dekker family, Mrs. Laura Wesenberg and Mrs. Lissane van den Broek that jointly performed this ceremony during which the dredger got its name: Rotterdam 26.
In its current configuration, the Rotterdam 26 can dredge up to a depth of 18 metres, however for future deployment it is required that it can reach a depth of 50 metres.
It is scheduled that this will be realised by DE Klop in the course of 2026 in two steps, first 30 metres and then the final 50 metres.
The modular design of the "Cygnus" type makes this possible.