Picture of the Day: The Largest Hopper Dredger

With a hopper capacity of 46,000 m³, trailing suction hopper dredger Cristóbal Colón is the largest and the most high-tech dredger in the world today.

Built by the Spanish shipbuilder La Naval in 2009, the 223 m long (Length o.a. ) vessel is owned by the Belgian shipping infrastructure conglomerate Jan De Nul.

This type of vessel is mostly used for dredging loose material such as sand, clay or gravel. To this end, two suction tubes equipped with a drag head that is trailed over the ground are lowered.

Cristóbal Colón, twice the size of her closest competitor, has a dredging depth of 155 meters and can store over 1.5 million cubic feet of sand onboard.

The fully loaded vessel is capable of cruising at a speed of 18 knots. A total of 46 persons can be accommodated on the ship.

Here are some photos that will offer an insight to the sheer size of the vessel.

Source: Jan De Nul