Her Royal Highness Princess Alexia of the Netherlands has today performed the christening ceremony for Van Oord’s new hopper dredger, the Vox Alexia. The christening ceremony took place at the Wilhelminakade quay in Rotterdam’s city centre, where the vessel is being docked for two days.

Guests and Van Oord employees gathered there to celebrate this memorable occasion. After the ceremony, Princess Alexia was given a tour of the vessel and met a number of employees, including the vessel’s crew and members of Young Van Oord, an employee association.

Quote by CEO Pieter van Oord: ‘The Vox Alexia is our third LNG-powered vessel and a prime example of Van Oord’s commitment to sustainability. It is a great honour that Her Royal Highness Princess Alexia has christened this vessel, which bears her name.’

The Vox Alexia is a hopper dredger. This type of dredger collects sand, clay, sludge and soil from sea or river beds. Van Oord deploys hopper dredgers worldwide on a wide variety of projects, including coastal protection, port development, deepening of waterways and land reclamation. Like its recently christened sister vessels, the Vox Ariane and the Vox Apolonia, the Vox Alexia is equipped with a liquefied natural gas (LNG) system and is a good example of Van Oord’s commitment to sustainability. The vessel’s LNG fuel system and energy-efficient design will significantly reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

Not one, but two special christening ceremonies will take place on this memorable day in Rotterdam. In addition to the Vox Alexia, Van Oord’s new cable-laying vessel Calypso will be christened in the afternoon. The Calypso will be deployed mainly on offshore wind farm construction projects and will thus make a valuable contribution to Van Oord’s energy transition.