Tag: CEDA

Cees van Rhee Passed Away, a Visionary Leader for the Dredging Community

Cees van Rhee at the TU Delft Dredging Technology Laboratory (Credit: TU Delft)
Cees van Rhee at the TU Delft Dredging Technology Laboratory (Credit: TU Delft)

This is an article I didn’t want to write. My professor Cees van Rhee passed away last weekend1. This was devastating news for his family and all those who surrounded him at the TU Delft. Cees was still enjoying life, he died doing his favourite hobby: fishing. Always looking ahead, he was determined to be my promotor for my PhD. project. I know him already so long. When he was doing his PhD. project, I was graduating on my masters in the same lab. It would be fitting to be his last PhD. student. Fate has decided differently. As he was a public figure, you will receive in the news probably some factual biographies about him2. But he was so much a person to me, that I want to highlight some of his thoughts and contemplations for you.

When Cees assumed his position as dredging professor3, he set three goals to work on:

  1. Bring the department of dredging engineering under a single faculty
  2. Improve the quality of research and education
  3. Make the dredging community conscious of designing equipment for performance

He managed to merge the civil engineering branch and the mechanical engineering branch of the dredging engineering department as one of his first feats as new professor. The second goal can be sensed from the enormous increase in publications during his tenure4. And not only in the usual dredging literature, but also in highly regarded scientific journals. A standard he also imposed on my own PhD. project. The final goal is a real dot on the horizon and is therefore harder to achieve. He engaged with the rest of the dredging community through his numerous activities for the CEDA. Bringing his academic perspective to the industry.

In response to the drivers for dredging: population growth, transport demand and sea level rise, he saw the following challenges:

  1. Continuous innovation to stay ahead of the competition
  2. Re-allocation of labour for the manufacturing of equipment
  3. Understanding the dredging processes on a fundamental level
  4. Development of AI for supporting optimal operation

These challenges are still valid and are a sign of his visionary academic approach to dredging. Most of the research are contributing to solve these challenges. As a leader of the department of Dredging Engineering he lead his colleagues into a solid self-supporting team of specialists. I think we are still in a good position to tackle the challenges, but have to be careful to maintain this advantage.

Cees left a legacy of a high academic standard for dredging engineering. Torn away from life and so many projects ongoing, there will be a lot of loose ends to tie. And I am proud, that I can be part of it. When I approached him for my PhD. plans, he suggested to follow certain ideas that have been slumbering around, but were dormant because by now everybody uses finite element applications to study those problems. He was really happy that I came along with my old school analytic competences to pick up that gauntlet. I have some promising preliminary results already. And I am so sorry, he will never be there to enjoy the results that confirm he was onto something good.

We will all miss you. Thank you Cees.

Cees van Rhee welcoming the audience at the 2019 CEDA Dredging Days (Credit: CEDA)
Cees van Rhee welcoming the audience at the 2019 CEDA Dredging Days (Credit: CEDA)

References

  1. In Loving Memory of Prof. dr. ir. Cees van Rhee, LinkedIn
  2. In Loving Memory of Prof. dr. ir. Cees van Rhee, CEDA
  3. Over grensvlakken en het verleggen van grenzen, TU Delft
  4. Cees van Rhee, ResearchGate

See also

Young CEDA Visits Damen Dredging Equipment

Group picture of the Young CEDA visit to Damen Dredging Equipment
Group picture of the Young CEDA visit to Damen Dredging Equipment

CEDA has always been an advocate of sharing and disseminating knowledge, with an attention to personal contacts1. Of course, there are the high profile Dredging Days2 and the WODCON3 level events, but once in a while there are also smaller events. As part of the smaller program, Young CEDA4 regularly organizes visits at projects and companies to bring together the new generation of our dredging community. This time, a group of young professionals visited our company Damen Dredging Equipment here in Nijkerk5 to get familiar where we are and what we do. Rick Bekkers, Jorgen Groeneveld, Suman Sapkota and Reinier de Vries where hosts of the event and organised, with assistance of the ladies of our reception and back-office, a nice program with presentations a yard tour and of course drinks and the proverbial ‘bitterballen’.

Rick Bekkers giving a presentation on DOP dredges
Rick Bekkers giving a presentation on DOP dredges

After Rick and Reinier gave a presentation on the premises and the products, there was a yard tour and a demonstration of our dredging simulator by Wouter Beekman. And I am always happy, that the visit to our Damen Dredging Experience was a great success again. We do have our own little museum to experience the difficult issues in the dredging process hands-on6. Literally! Specially for this occasion, the exhibits have been expanded with new informative screens, made by Judith Korver. In a few slides there is an explanation on what the visitor experiences by operating the exhibit.

Informative screen at the pipe length exhibit
Informative screen at the pipe length exhibit

Part of the experience is the staircase leading up to the third floor with the exhibits. In the staircase, there is a collection of wall covering pictures on the history of Damen Dredging Equipment. Personally, I think learning from history is essential to get inspired7. Back in the old days, people had to be very innovative to come up with solutions within their limited technological level. And Mr. de Groot, the founder of our local Damen company was very innovative8. He was the inventor of the double walled dredge pump9 and the soil pumping station10.

Double walled dredge pump(l) and soil pumping station (r)
Double walled dredge pump(l) and soil pumping station (r)

A lesser known fact by now may be, that originally Mr. C de Groot was a contractor. He was a true descendant from a Giessendam dredging family and tried his luck at the IJsselmeer werken of the 1930’s. As a basecamp, he leased a land lot next to the sea locks of Nijkerk. Later on, he had more fun on building his own equipment and eventually started a manufacturing facility more inland along the approach canal. You can still recognize the original footprint in the current urban landscape.

Arial view of the original area of Damen Dredging Equipment
Arial view of the original area of Damen Dredging Equipment
Arial view of the current area of Damen Dredging Equipment
Arial view of the current area of Damen Dredging Equipment

At retirement, Mr. de Groot had no successors and had to sell the company. After an intermediate period, De Groot Nijkerk was acquired by Damen Shipyards8 in 1988. Eventually in 2004 our company was rebranded to Damen Dredging Equipment and we proudly fly the blue colours of the Damen family.

Flags welcoming visitors at the entrance
Flags welcoming visitors at the entrance

References

  1. Our Mission, Vision and Strategy, CEDA
  2. About CEDA Dredging Days, CEDA
  3. WODCON’s, WODA
  4. Young CEDA Meetings, CEDA
  5. Young CEDA Site Visit Damen Dredging Equipment, Nijkerk, CEDA
  6. Experience the Dredging Experience, Discover Dredging
  7. Welkom in het Nationaal Baggermuseum, Nationaal Baggermuseum
  8. A long history in dredge building, Damen
  9. How to dress your dredge pump for success, Discover Dredging
  10. Book Review: En De Sé Wie Net Maer, Discover Dredging

See also

Second Thoughts On The Energy Transition Panel At the Latest CEDA Dredging Days

Energy transition panel discussion CEDA Dredging Days 2021 (Credit: CEDA)
Energy transition panel discussion CEDA Dredging Days 2021 (Credit: CEDA)

The CEDA Dredging Days are long gone1. Maybe some of you still have a faint memory of the innovative online event. After this event I was quite occupied and not able to do a proper review. I did even miss the opportunity for the traditional new years welcome post. My apologies, more to that another time. Concerning the Dredging Days. I still kept some nagging thoughts about the Energy transition panel discussion that I want to share with you. And the recent invitation for participating in the CEDA Commission on Decarbonisation is another good motivation2.

On the second day of the conference there was a session with a panel discussion on the ‘Energy transition in the dredging industry’. Several experts in the dredging community were invited to present their perspective on the energy transition. From the legislation side (Dagmar Nelissen, CE Delft), clients (Joris Vijverberg, Rijkswaterstaat), suppliers (Benny Mestemaker, Royal IHC) and contractors (Sven Kramer, Van Oord). The panel was moderated by Paul Vercruijsse from the CEDA Working Group on Energy Efficiency3.

The take-aways of the panellists were amongst others: ‘No single solution for all, Transitional fuels should be flexible, Transition should be facilitated by regulation, There might be a financial objection to change.’ Along these lines, there were polls on the perspective of the audience. The response to two of the polls surprised the panellists.

Results on the polls for rate of transition (l) and preferred energy carrier (r) (Credit:CEDA)
Results on the polls for rate of transition (l) and preferred energy carrier (r) (Credit:CEDA)

As I was present there, I have my own perspective on the discussion. First the rate of transition. The panel was surprised that the audience was expecting a transition ahead of the IMO planning. I was responding to our own national situation. Currently I see so some initiatives to convert dredges and projects to electric drives, that it could be possible4,5,6. But I expect to see a next generation of newbuilds soon that will be virtually or completely decarbonized.

Well to propeller emissions (Credit: CEDA)
Well to propeller emissions (Credit: CEDA)

The other surprise is was the preference for hydrogen as the final fuel of the future. Although all the alternatives do have better performance, are easier to store or downright cheaper according to the experts in the panel. That might be very well, but I think the answer is in the presentation by Benny Mestemaker. It will simply be the fuel with the lowest emission to supply and use. In the end we will have to go to that dot on the horizon. And I do see other advantages where my opinion differs from the experts. The complaints of the panel was the complete lack of infrastructure for hydrogen at both the project sites and the vessels themselves.

Concerning the infrastructure near the project site. Yes, there are no installations yet. However, the thing is. You can find renewably generated hydrogen everywhere. As long as you have access to sun, wind and water. And that is exactly where most dredging projects are happening. Off course, there is no factory yet, but that is outdated philosophy. There will be movable plants available that will create a new market. e.g. I am very hopeful of initiatives like ‘Solar Duck’7. They can roam the projects delivering tailor made hydrogen production, right where you need it.

Floating solar power plant (Credit: SolarDuck)
Floating solar power plant (Credit: SolarDuck)

Concerning the vessels. Yes, the installation to sail the vessel on hydrogen will take up a lot of valuable cargo space. But, that is no technical problem. We’ve had technologies that required an even bigger chunk of the vessel deadweight: coal burning steam ships. The big equalizer is: there was no other solution. Everybody was using it. And that is the same here. I think there will be no other solution than to use hydrogen, as it is completely emission free. One of my perspectives on design choices: select the solution that you know will solve the problem!
Transition schedule to convert to fossil fuel free dredging equipment

Transition schedule to convert to fossil fuel free dredging equipment
Transition schedule to convert to fossil fuel free dredging equipment

References

  1. CEDA Dredging Days 2021, CEDA
  2. Invitation to CEDA Commission on Decarbonisation (CCD), CEDA
  3. CEDA Working Group on Energy Efficiency (WGEE), CEDA
  4. Transitiepad Kustlijnzorg en Vaargeulonderhoud, Rijkswaterstaat
  5. Zero Emission Dredging Hub van start, EDB Drechtsteden
  6. Complete zandfabriek zo hoog als een flatgebouw dobbert ineens in de voorhaven van Deest, De Gelderlander
  7. Electrifying the world with offshore floating solar, SolarDuck

See also

We Choose To Adopt Energy Transition, But How Will We Succeed?

Comment

CEDA will provide access to the panel discussion shortly. Dredging Days attendees can still (re-) watch it on the conference platform.