Startek Shipyards launches 2 dredgers

Chennai, April 16 Startek Shipyards Pvt Ltd, a Chennai-based manufacturers of dredgers, on Wednesday unveiled its first amphibious cutter suction dredger and a bucket dredger. The two dredgers — Crawl-cat 400 and C90 Conver — are manufactured with technology from IHC Merwede of Holland for a private company in Kolkata and Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation in Vijayawada.
Elaborating on the products’ features, Mr Deepak Rao Beedu, Executive Director, said Crawl-cat 400 can move from land to water on its own. This model is ideal for fishing harbours, inland waterways, minor ports, cooling water intake points of power plants and lakes. With a dredging depth of maximum of 6 metres, it can adjust to its own height using its track poles, he explained.
The second model, which is ideal for small irrigation canals, is a bucket dredger that scoops mud from the bottom and can go 3.5 metres deep. According to Mr Beedu, the size of the dredger market in the country is three units a year and there are only two companies in the country to manufacture dredgers. Startek has orders for five dredgers worth Rs 35 crore and the work “will be executed in the next 18 months”.