STX Lorient signs contract to build dredger for STFMO

New Vessels - July 30, 2010

STX France Lorient has announced that it has signed a contract with Société de Transports Fluvio-Maritimes de l'Ouest (STFMO), a subsidiary of Sablières de l'Atlantique, for the construction of a sand dredger.

Said the company: "This order is the first placed with STX Lorient since 2008 and comes during a significantly low period. It will give the Lanester shipyard the opportunity to establish itself on a new and highly competitive market at a national and European level."

"STX Lorient has paid particular attention to the hydrodynamic optimization of the ship to reduce fuel consumption - one of the essential points in the client's economic model."

"The project team at our shipyard rallied into action with great efficiency to meet the challenge represented by such a highly specialized type of ship, rallying support from recognized experts in the dredging field to offer our client the best solution. Taking on this challenge has been possible thanks to close collaboration with STFMO from a very early stage", Jean Roche, Managing director of STX France, Lorient ASA declared.

The contract will provide a workload of over 170,000 man hours to STX staff and sub-contractors. The design phase will be launched promptly and the first equipment orders are scheduled for this autumn.

Construction will begin at the start of 2011 with delivery of the ship to STFMO scheduled for mid-2012.

The dredger will be 84.10m long with a breadth of 15.60m and capacity of 2,000m3. it will operate year-round on the Atlantic seaboard.

The extraction of marine aggregates will be performed mainly on the Pilier and Charpentier concessions offshore Saint-Nazaire. The ship will unload cargo at the dredging terminals in Montoir, Cheviré-aval and Rohu.