Dredgers are responsible for clearing silt from waterways and rivers to allow other vessels to pass smoothly. They are also powerful tools for land reclamation through sand pumping. Types of dredgers include cutter suction dredgers and trailing suction hopper dredgers. The smooth flow of rivers and waterways depends entirely on dredgers.
The task of a dredger is to carry out underwater earthwork construction, specifically: deepening, widening, and clearing existing waterways and ports; excavating new waterways, ports, and canals; dredging the foundations of docks, shipyards, locks, and other hydraulic structures; and dumping the excavated silt into the deep sea or using it for land reclamation in low-lying areas. They are powerful tools for land reclamation through sand pumping.
Self-propelled dredgers have their own propulsion capabilities. Some dredgers do not have their own propulsion and rely on tugboats to move between work locations; the silt excavated from the seabed is loaded into waiting barges and towed away. Self-propelled dredgers work in waterways used by larger vessels, using large flexible pipes (discharge pipes) to pump out silt. The dredger stores the silt in its hold, and once full, sails to the open sea to dump it. Side-boom dredgers are the most effective tools for clearing narrow waterways. They move steadily and slowly, traveling about 3700 meters per hour, excavating a waterway about 35 meters wide at the bottom of the lake. The pump sucks up the silt and sprays it back into the water far from the waterway along a long boom. Large ships with deep drafts particularly rely on this type of dredger.
The working capacity of a dredger is expressed in cubic meters of soil excavated per hour. Dredgers are divided into motorized and non-motorized types, and according to their construction characteristics, they can be further divided into trailing suction, cutter suction, bucket chain, grab, and shovel types.
