Steven Vale shows some of the world’s largest and most powerful pontoon-based hydraulic backhoe dredgers at work, including the Liebherr P964, P995 and P996, Caterpillar 375, Hitachi EX1900, Backacter BA1100 and the massive ‘Maricavor’, a 300-tonne Komatsu PC3000. These enormous machines serve the needs of ports, deepening their seaways and building new facilities to handle ever-larger cargo vessels. Interviews highlight some of the choices and issues faced by the operators, and there’s a look at the future.