Ellicott International Announces New Deliveries, New Orders and New Products
June 29, 1998
Ellicott International, the world's oldest (founded 1885) and largest manufacturer of cutter suction dredges (over 1300 built), used the occasion of the Fifteenth World Dredging Congress (WODCON) in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA to announce significant new developments affecting all aspects of the cutter dredge market.
Licensing Agreement for Egypt
Ellicott's Dredge Division has just entered into a comprehensive license agreement with Arab Contractors Company of Egypt for the manufacture of Ellicott "DRAGON"™ dredges in Egypt. Arab Contractors, also known as Osman Ahmed Osman & Company, is the largest civil construction and engineering company based in the Middle East with over US$1 billion in annual revenue, and 100,000 employees. Arab Contractors' Chairman, Ismail Osman, noted in signing the license agreement that one of his first jobs on joining the company decades ago was working on an Ellicott dredge, and since then Arab Contractors has used Ellicott dredges exclusively, ranging in size from 14" (350 mm) to 24" (750 mm).
U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Daniel Kurtzer witnessed the signing of the agreement during the occasion of U.S. Vice President Al Gore's trip to Egypt. He commented that Ellicott is known world wide for its technology leadership in the dredging field, and that Arab Contractors had chosen well in its choice of partner for this venture.
Ellicott's Dredge Division also signed a contract this week, together with its Mud Cat™ Division, to supply four "DRAGON"™ dredges to ABC Shipping Ltd. These dredges, which range in size from 10" (254 mm) to 14" (350 mm) will be used in various marine contracting projects.
Mud Cat™ Division Sets Records
Ellicott's Mud Cat™ Division, which makes one-truck transportable auger, cutter, and bucketwheel dredges, has been exceptionally busy.
MCN Energy, a New York stock exchange listed company, just took delivery of five Series 370 HP dredges for coal recovery. The dredges varied in digging depth from 26' (8 m) to 50' (15 m), and were delivered in just five months including engineering. Mud Cat™ has now delivered almost 100 of these Series 370 "DRAGON"™ dredges which it believes to be the most popular dredge model in history.
The Arab Potash Company of Jordan just accepted delivery of a B-490 "WHEEL-DRAGON"™ dredge after its successful completion of trials in the Dead Sea. Ellicott is well-known for its expertise in dredge mining, and it has carved an especially strong niche in salt mining. Arab Potash chose the Mud Cat™ bucketwheel dredge after several years of exhaustive evaluation of the available dredge choices. The B-490 is performing well in extremely difficult conditions.
New Auger Dredge Model
Mud Cat™ has also announced a new model auger dredge, the MC-2000. The MC-2000 introduces many new features.
Fresh off the drawing boards of Ellicott's Engineering department and with the cooperation and input from the industry, dredge contractors are about to experience the most complete new dredge in the past 25 years. Designed to provide good performance in a wide range of materials (i.e. with various settling velocities or with thixotropic characteristics), this dredge uses a combination open and closed submerged pump system developed by Ellicotts’ engineers.
The MC-2000 dredge offers:
- increased dredging depths up to 20 ft. (6 m)
- high portability
- high operating efficiency with low cost of maintenance
- optional sludge and slurry pump
- optional full automation
The MC-2000 will be available for late summer '98 deliveries. Mud Cat™ believes the MC-2000 will be the auger dredge of choice for the 21st century.
New Sand & Gravel Dredge Series - the Econoline
Ellicott has developed and sold a new series of dredges intended especially for the pragmatic sand and gravel operator.
The advantages of the Econoline model are simplicity, performance, and power.
Lighter in weight than the standard line of cutter suction dredges, it still meets ABS specifications. The Econoline has more connected horsepower than any other dredge in its class. The Econoline uses the world tested and proven hydraulic cutter drive and is the only dredge in the industry that comes with a "non-regulated" nuclear density system at no extra cost.
Ellicott's standard Econoline units come in 28 ft. (8.5 m) and 50 ft. (15 m) digging depth configurations. Ladder pumps are standard on the 50 ft. model.
The Econoline is the dredge sand and gravel operators wanted at the price they expected to pay.
At WODCON, Ellicott unveiled its new WIZARD™ program to help dredging contractors estimate total project costs and assess each project's financial performance. WIZARD™ is accessible on-line through Ellicott's internet home page at www.dredge.com. Ellicott was the first company in the industry to develop an internet home page and has been recognized for having the best home page in the field.
At WODCON, Ellicott's affiliated company, United Marine International, which specializes in aquatic weed harvesters and marine trash skimmers, announced new sales of trash skimmers to the cities of Ft. Lauderdale and Baltimore. UMI has also introduced its own home page at: http://www.trashskimmer.com.
