A stationary dredger, fixed on anchors and moved while dredging along semi-arcs by winches.

The
bucket dredger is one of the oldest types of dredging equipment. It has an endless chain of buckets,
that fill while scraping over the bottom. The buckets are turned upside down and empty moving over
the tumbler at the top. The dredged material is loaded in barges.

Bucket ladder dredgers are one of the oldest types of dredger. They usually comprise a rectangular
pontoon with a central well in which a heavy steel frame or ladder is suspended. The ladder supports
an endless chain of buckets, each of which is equipped with a cutting edge. By rotating the bucket
chain about flat-sided wheels (known as tumblers) at each end of the ladder, material can be loosened
and transported. A small proportion of the dredgers of this type are self-propelled. The propulsion
machinery is used to move the vessel from site to site, but is not used in the dredging operation.

The dredging action starts when a bucket reaches the bottom of the ladder, where it loosens and
scoops up a quantity of material. This material is carried in the bucket to the top of the ladder where,
at the highest point of the chain, the bucket overturns and the contents are discharged. The material
falls into drop chutes and into a barge moored alongside the dredger. Each bucket then returns empty
on the underside of the chain to the bottom of the ladder where the cycle begins again. The size of a
bucket dredger is usually described by the capacity of the buckets, which is in the range 100-900 litres.

Bucket ladder dredgers are able to dredge almost any material up to the point where blasting is
required, and if fitted with ripper teeth may even be directly able to dredge weak rock. A minimal
amount of water is added to the dredged material during careful use of the buckets. This is
advantageous to production and costs, especially when dredging in silt and mud.

In operation, a bucket ladder dredger is held accurately in position by up to six moorings or anchors
and the bucket ladder moved from side to side to excavate material. The mooring wires can obstruct
other shipping, and high noise levels are a common problem if special steps are not taken to control
sound emissions. Much of the power of a bucket dredger is used in turning the chain, but the high
inertia of this can also assist in overcoming localized hard spots. The maximum weekly output of a
bucket dredger can vary between 10.000 and 100.000 m3 (in-situ) depending upon size, location and
material. Maximum dredging depths are normally around 20 m. Bucket ladder dredgers are complex
and expensive machines to operate but can dredge to the required depth very accurately.