Italdraghe will use the occasion of Seawork to launch a new range of ‘Master Dredger’ standardised cutter suction dredgers onto the world market. Compact and easily transportable, the dredgers are suitable for shipping worldwide. There are seven models in the Master Dredger range, starting with the 11m, 180 hp MD 1518, with a capacity of 350m3 per hour, up to the 25m, 1,330 hp MD 40135, which can produce 2,500m3 per hour.

In addition to CSDs, the company also makes amphibious dredgers, pipe layers, trenchers and dredge pumps as well as supplying dredge pipes and other accessories.

Italdraghe has also designed and built a new concept dredger that combines a multi-purpose excavator arm with inert pumping capabilities.

In addition to its state of the art cabin controlled functions, this dredger features an innovative portable radio control which allows the crew to perform a wide range of dredging and manoeuvring operations from any on board position. This has obvious advantages for single manned dredgers, as it allows the operator full control of the dredger even when outside the cabin. By means of this small practical radio-controlled device it is possible, for example, to start up and close down the engines, engage the clutch, move the stationing poles, etc.

Further flexibility is provided by the dredger excavator arm which has been designed to take a range of different interchangeable tools. According to the environmental working conditions and the type of material to be removed, this arm can quickly and easily be fitted with exactly the right tool for the job in hand.

When fitted with a cutter head, the excavator arm can be used for standard dredging operations, with the option of the dredged materials being discharged at a distance.

The excavator arm can also be fitted with other special purpose tools such as hydro-cultivators and large cutting collectors (of up to 3m in length) for removing small bushes and shrubbery as is often required, for example, in the reclamation and maintenance alongside canals, inland waterways and nature reserves . It can also be used in conjunction with disc skimmers for removing surface sea water pollutants, pumping the collected waste into special onboard tanks.