After many years in the making and amazing teamwork from UK Marine the new 21st century dredger, CEMEX Go Innovation, entered Shoreham for the first time.
This spectacular vessel will deliver real growth to our business and is the first dredger that any UK Aggregate producer has launched in over 20 years. This shows CEMEX’s continued commitment to the UK and European markets. It is brilliant to see it arriving in the UK.
Kurt Cowdery, Director of UK Marine, commented: “This is a significant investment by our business. The Marine team has brought this project to life in challenging and difficult times which is an incredible achievement. Well done. Hopefully, we will get to do it all over again!”
Mark Williams, Fleet Engineering Manager, said: “As the Fleet Engineering Manager and a veteran of the Marine aggregates industry of 28 years, it has been an absolute honour to lead the project of designing and building a bespoke Marine aggregate dredging vessel fit for the 21st century. Having consumed the last three years of my life it has been very challenging. Being onboard and sailing her into Shoreham was the culmination of all the hard work and definitely felt good and was a very proud moment for me personally.
The vessel is distinctly CEMEX, designed for our business incorporating many firsts in safety; complying and exceeding the latest environmental requirements; sporting bespoke designed dredging and unloading equipment; as well as propulsion and power management systems to drive efficiency – to name but a few. Such a vessel sets the new standard for the UK Marine aggregate industry and we in Marine are proud to lead the way. The next chapter is to fully integrate the CEMEX Go Innovation into the fleet and optimise the vessel to its full potential, a challenge that Marine look forward and are rising to!”
Captain Dave Pearson is the first ever Master of the CEMEX Go Innovation. He commented: “It is an honour to be captain of the new CEMEX Go Innovation, and I am very proud to be leading such a committed and experienced crew too. She’s an incredible ship and makes a real statement when she comes into port – she certainly draws attention and overshadows everything around her!
The CEMEX Go Innovation is performing well already – it has been a challenge learning how to use all the new technology on ship compared to those we have previously worked on, but everyone is going above and beyond to adapt.
Since leaving Romania in December 2020, we have been to Amsterdam for testing, and this was a difficult trip but she handled the bad weather very well. We are now in the UK for final trials, and I am very excited to see what the crew and myself can achieve together over the coming months on this magnificent ship.”