BAE starts hopper dredge project

MOBILE, Ala. -- BAE Systems has begun construction on the MV Magdalen, a trailing suction hopper dredge for Weeks Marine Inc. Executives from both companies were at BAE Systems' Mobile shipyard this week as steel was cut for the vessel's first module, which will weigh 130 tons. BAE expects to complete the 340-foot vessel in 2014. The vessel will be the first designed by Netherlands-based IHC Merwede to be built in the United States. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 06/07/12)