The backhoe dredger "Benchicao" is about to be delivered on early 2017 to the customer, North Africa.

Based on an initial design by Merré shipyard, the pontoon is the conclusion of about one year of work in several entities of BMA group. Hull, superstructure and spuds have been built by Mecasoud. Mast and guardrails were built by Forminox. Spud integration devices were built by Merré shipyard.

Ten crew members can comfortably live on board of the vessel that presents a very large autonomy at sea. The dredger is self-propelled by two lifting hydraulic propellers driven by two Diesel engines for shallow water operations. She is designed set on board an hydraulic excavator allowing to reach almost 20 m dredging depth. A 250 tons capacity crane can as well been set on the main deck.

In the engine room, an hydraulic group supply three spud winches, four mooring winches, two anchor windlass and one crane. Two power generators, 100 kW each, supply electricity on board. Ballasts can be filled manually or automatically, in order to master trim or heel.

Classified by Bureau Veritas, design has focused on usability and user security. The dredger is 39,40 m long and 15,40 m large and presents a robust and multifunction design.

Ordered by the customer in November 2015, "Benchicao" will reach North Africa early 2017 and will join the "Taghest" split barge delivered last summer 2016 in order to complete dredging operations on North Africa cost.