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A group from the USACE Galveston District took a tour of the hopper dredge Padre Island, a “suction hopper dredger”, working in the Galveston Channel earlier this month.
The Padre Island can collect 3,600 cubic yards of dredge material per “cut” or dredging pass.
Hopper dredges use dragheads affixed to trailing-arm suction pipes mounted on both sides of the vessel (port and starboard).
The dragheads loosen sediment on the bottom off the seafloor and deliver the material to the vessel’s “belly” via the suction arms.
After completing a cut and filling the hopper, the ship will travel offshore and pump sediment on to a designated dredging material placement area.