Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) has just released an interesting video showing capabilities of backhoe dredgers.
A backhoe dredger is basically a hydraulic excavator installed on a pontoon.
Dredging is executed by the excavator which is mounted on a turntable at the front of the pontoon.
The backhoe dredger is mainly used for dredging in shallow or confined waters.
Boskalis has around 20 of these vessels operating on projects all over the world, including the Magnor, the largest backhoe in the world. It can dredge to a depth of 32 meters, and has a bucket with a volume of 40 cubic meters.