The master plan for the $20bn Chek Lap Kok Airport, featuring ten interlinked infrastructure projects, was launched in 1990. The main airport site involved the creation of a 1,248 hectare area, which was achieved by excavating the original islands of Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chai then augmenting them with the largest dredging project the world has ever seen.

The so called 'dredging project of the century' lasted from 1991 through to completion in 1997, with some 237m m³ of dredged material moved during works which reactivated a large percentage of the world dredging fleet whilst reinvigorating the industry.

Most of the work at Chek Lap Kok was done by trailing suction hopper dredgers, sailing continuously between distant sand winning areas and the airport construction site. Economies of scale became an important consideration and, as the largest trailers of the late 1980s and early 1990s were only of 11,000 - 12,000 m³ capacity, the imperative to carry more sand on every circuit led to new concepts of dredger size. The first volley in the still escalating size wars was fired by Belgium's Dredging International when it commissioned IHC Holland to build the world's first 'jumbo' trailing suction hopper dredger, the seminal 'Pearl River'. Its 17,000 m³ capacity seemed a massive leap at the time and when it arrived in Hong Kong in 1994, most of DI's major competitors decided to follow suit. Within a few years, Jan De Nul had launched the 18,000 m³ 'Gerardus Mercator', Ballast Nedam had the 18,000 m³ 'Amsterdam' and Royal Boskalis Westminster really raised the stakes with the 23,425 m³ 'WD Fairway'.

The still vibrant legacy of Chek Lap Kok is that it demonstrated to project planners everywhere that a whole new set of project possibilities had become available to them thanks to the impressive capabilities of the global dredging industry. A sequence of major land reclamation projects which has still to run its course followed in Singapore and Hong Kong before shifting to the Arabian Gulf region, where spectacular dredging works such as the various Palm Islands and The World continue to keep a massively expanded global dredging fleet and myriad support vessels fully employed. The Maasvlaakte 2 reclamation project to significantly expand the Port of Rotterdam is due to get under way next year and will be the largest such works to take place in Europe.

The world's largest current trailer is Jan De Nul's 33,000 m³ 'Vasco da Gama' but, not content to rest on its laurels, the family owned Belgian contractor has ordered two 46,000 m³ vessels from Spain's La Naval Shipyard as part of a massive €1.25bn, 19 dredger fleet renewal and expansion programme. With Jan De Nul and its 'Big Four' competitors all reporting record order books, the dredging industry is looking very healthy indeed in 2007.

Not only are the dredgers bigger than 20 years ago, they are also much more sophisticated in their operation. The advent of GPS allied to advances in electronics which enable automated dredging from a one man bridge have also pushed productivity and profitability forward.

Meticulous refinement of hull design and twin 19,200kW main engines will see Jan De Nul's mega-jumbo newbuilds capable of sailing at 18 knots. Another major escalation during MJ's first 20 years has been in dredging depth, with the newest jumbos capable of working to 155m. The ability to undertake works such as deepwater trenching/backfilling and the excavation of 'glory holes' to protect subsea well heads from icebergs further enhances the versatility and capability of today's dredging industry.

Larz Bourne is the editor of Maritime Journal.