Muckshifting Venetian style

by Nick Drew | Tue 18 Aug 2015

Muckshifting Venetian style

Reader’s digger related holiday snaps have historically been a very feature popular here on the Digger Man Blog over the years, but this latest photo we have received is something completely different!

During a recent holiday in Venice CBL Plant Sales Regional Director John Elliott spotted this local dredging boat, which at first glance appeared to be fitted with a retro fit Takeuchi two piece boom and dipper. Of course working for a company that is one of the leading dealerships for Takeuchi, John is always on the lookout for all things related to the Japanese manufacturer and that is why this set up caught his eye.

However after closer inspection and a bit of online research I am still not so sure about the true identity of this machine, but I suspect its more of a "Hiab" style variant as opposed to a true excavator modification. The shot did raise my interest into the ongoing work that takes place in Venice though and I discovered that with the canals being the main circulatory routes of the city, a great deal of maintenance is constantly being done on them. Most of the canals are shallow – no more than 10-15ft deep in many places – and are defined by spaces between the buildings that crowd their banks. They need to be dredged regularly to remove the silt and sand that is deposited in the canals by the frequent high tides that can flood the city. Human activity and the rerouting of rivers and streams into the lagoon have in recent years caused the city to begin sinking. The dredging of canals to maintain a useful depth is constant; many residents who could once step from their homes into a private boat to traverse the city have now moved into the upper floors of their houses to avoid the frequent flooding of the canals. The Digger Man Blog thanks John for sending in this shot to share with us and don’t forget if you are on your holidays and spot something of interest which is digger related, please send your photos into us at nickydrew16 at btinternet.com using the normal @ email format.

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