With diesel fuel prices expected to hold at $3.00+ per gallon through 2013, converting diesel dredges and booster pumps to electric power can result in a 50% to 60% savings in monthly energy costs. 

With energy costs soaring and spoil areas shrinking, transporting dredge slurry at the optimum flow rate and concentration is paramount. 

Many factors contribute to limitations in the throughput of cutter suctions dredge. While most performance data available from cutter suction dredge manufactures outlines theoretical design throughput, others factors need to be considered when computing expected throughput. 

Over the past 10+ years, many new products have entered the market that also apply to the dredge manufacturing processes. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM's) are spending more money and time into Research & Development to explore increased efficiencies, longer life and more affordable components. As these new components find themselves available for sale in the marketplace, they offer benefits to end users in many industries. 

This paper will take us through the steps involved in the design and manufacture of the deepest mining dredge in the Western Hemisphere. 

Many references to “dredging efficiency” exist in publications pertaining to the dredging industry but there exists, in my opinion, an absence of reference to the individual components of dredging efficiency, how each component is measured, and how each measurement is then calculated and expressed in useful terms.