A royal christening for Royal Van Oord

Rotterdam - Van Oord has announced the christening ladies of the Vox Alexia and Calypso! On 9 September 2023, both vessels will be christened in the city centre of Rotterdam.

Christening lady Vox Alexia: Her Royal Highness Princess Alexia

Vox Alexia is named after Her Royal Highness Princess Alexia. Princess Alexia is the second daughter of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. We are pleased to announce that she accepted the invitation to perform the christening ceremony. After the ceremony, Princess Alexia will be given a tour on the ship and she will meet a number of staff members, including crew members and members of the Young Van Oord association.

Christening lady Calypso: Ms. Cerutti

In the afternoon, we also celebrate the christening of the Calypso. We are pleased that Ms. Inca Cerutti, will be christening the vessel. Ms Cerutti is the wife of Niek Hoek, chairman of the Supervisory Board. She will be given a tour on the ship after the christening ceremony as well.

About the two new vessels

Vox Alexia is a trailing suction hopper dredger. This is a type of dredger that collects sand, clay, sludge and even gravel from sea or river beds. Like recently christened sister vessels Vox Ariane and Vox Apolonia, the vessel is equipped with a LNG fuel system. These three new LNG vessels have a significantly lower carbon footprint than conventional trailing suction hopper dredgers and fit in with Van Oord’s aim of making its fleet more economical and sustainable.

The Calypso is the latest addition to Van Oord’s offshore wind fleet and our second cable-laying vessel. The vessel is equipped with two cable carousels, one above deck and one below deck. This makes the vessel suitable for laying two cables simultaneously. The Calypso will mainly be used for installing inter-array grid and export cables for offshore wind projects, as a result of which it will contribute to the energy transition.