dredger

In the seventeenth century, transport over water was the main way to travel in Holland. In that time, a close network was formed of boat services that were very accurate and fast. Furthermore, transport over water, for example by way of the typically Dutch towing barge, was much more comfortable than transport over the poor, bumpy roads. Good water ways were also of vital importance for trading. It was, of course, necessary that the rivers, canals and harbours were kept deep enough to navigate. So they had to be dredged frequently. In the seventeenth century, dredgers were also called "moddermolens" (mud mills). The name of this model suggests that it was used in Amsterdam, probably to keep the IJ and the canals navigable. Today, the Netherlands are still famous for their dredging techniques and Dutch dredging companies are invited throughout the world to share their knowledge.