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Just read a dredge can move over 10,000 cubic yards a day. That blew my mind.
Found it in an old industry report from the Army Corps of Engineers. Always figured a big cutter suction dredge moved a lot, but seeing that number was something else. That's like filling a football field over six feet deep in a single shift. Makes you think about the scale of the work we do. Anyone know what the highest daily output they've seen on a project was?
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palmer.jana2mo agoMost Upvoted
Wow, that's a huge gap between theory and reality. So when you see those crazy high daily numbers, is it basically just marketing for the equipment companies? What's the biggest factor that usually cuts the real output in half like that, the material type or all the downtime?
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thea7042mo ago
That Corps of Engineers number is for perfect conditions, which almost never happen. I saw a project where the theoretical max was 8,000 yards, but with pipe length, hard bottom material, and equipment downtime, the actual average was under 3,000. Those big numbers look good on paper but they set unrealistic expectations for clients and crews. The real skill is in moving material consistently day after day, not hitting a one day peak.
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