Massive Machines – Massive Backhoe Dredgers

DVD PAL

Steven Vale shows some of the world’s largest and most powerful hydraulic backhoe dredgers at work on their pontoons.

These enormous machines – often adapted mining excavators – serve the needs of ports, deepening their seaways and building new facilities to handle ever-larger cargo vessels.

Just a few of the machines and location included are the development of the southern end of Felixtowe’s Trinity terminal with the ‘Maricavor’ a 300-tonne Komatsu PC3000. At work in the Finnish Gulf of Bothnia are two Hitachi EX1900s and ‘Nordic Giant’, a Liebherr P995 that shifts 12,000 cubic meters of material a day.

Steven Vale uses interviews to highlight some of the choices and issues faced by the operators of this equipment.
He also takes a look into the future with footage from the Pacific of a Backacter BA1100 whose 25 cu metre bucket lifts 810cu meters an hour at 20metres depth.

• Running time approx 100 mins
• PAL DVD