Trailing Suction Hopper dredgers

Trailing suction hopper dredger is a ship that has a full sailing capacity used to maintain navigable waterways, deepening the maritime canals that are threatened to become silted, to construct new land elsewhere or to replace sand eroded by storms or wave action on the beaches.

In order to pick the sand up from the seabed the dredge drag head is lowered on the sea bottom to act like a vacuum cleaner. The dredge drag head is connected to the ship by 2 adjustable suction pipes that are sucking water with sand like a vacuum cleaner. The dredge pumps pump this mixture of water and sand from the seabed into the hopper. Here the excess water flows overboard leaving only the solid material.

When the ship has to dredge in waves, the suction pipes are suspended from davits in order to keep the suction nozzles in contact with the sea floor.

The discharge of the sand can be done by: opening the flaps or valves in the bottom, rain bowing or opening the bottom over the entire length.