This is the third element of a complete dredging system carried out by Merré shipyard for an Algerian Port Authority. Launched in January in Saint-Nazaire, where her hull was manufactured by Mecasoud, the "Tidjelabine" left the estuary of the Loire last week to be towed towards Algeria, where her arrival is planned in the next days.

Sistership of the "Taghest", delivered in 2016, the "Tidjelabine" is a 51 meters long and 9 meters wide split barge. These vessels, which open in the center, have mud pits to recover and clay sand, riprap or mud.

They were both designed to work together with a backhoe dredger, also building Saint-Nazaire and shiped to Algeria in January. Fitted with four spuds to ensure her stabilization at sea, the pontoon embarks a hydraulic excavator able to work at 20 meters depth. The extracted materials are then stored on the split barge, which when loaded carries the dredging products to the cladding areas. The arrival of a second barge will make it possible to organize a system of noria improving the efficiency of the device.