Portuguese 
Spanish 
Shown by the BuildWitt channel in a video published on May 23, 2026, the DB Catalina uses a bucket with a capacity greater than 76 cubic meters, engines of up to 4,000 horsepower, and a crew in continuous shifts to remove about eight million cubic yards of sediment from the Houston Ship Channel.
Beneath the seemingly calm waters of the Houston Ship Channel in the United States, a threat continuously accumulates. It is not a problem easily perceived by those observing the port from the shore, but a massive amount of mud and other sediments that deposit at the bottom of the waterway.
Without the removal of this material, the available depth for ships gradually decreases, hindering the passage of large freighters, tankers, and container ships. To prevent one of the main commercial routes in the United States from losing capacity, a gigantic structure works almost non-stop.
This is the DB Catalina, a hybrid mechanical dredger owned by the American company Curtin Maritime. The vessel’s operation in the channel was presented by BuildWitt in a video published on YouTube on May 23, 2026.
-
California Opens Floodgates to Restore Wetlands and Create Natural Flood Protection in the Central Valley
-
US Mayor Goes Undercover as Homeless for a Week to Understand Rising Homelessness, Sparking Debate in His City
-
Teen from Brazil Turns School Snack Sales into Million-Dollar Confectionery Business Projected to Earn Nearly $1.9 Million in 2024
-
Why Do Electrical Outlets and Switches Turn Yellow? Understanding the Impact of Light, Temperature, and Materials on Color Change
Built in 2025, the DB Catalina is classified by its owner as the largest hybrid clamshell dredger — a bucket system with two articulated shells — in the Western Hemisphere. Its largest bucket can remove almost 80 cubic meters of material in a single cycle.
Channel moves more than 300 million tons
The Houston Ship Channel stretches approximately 52 miles, or about 84 kilometers, linking the port region of Houston to the Gulf of Mexico.
Along the route are more than 200 private facilities and eight public terminals. The waterway serves refineries, petrochemical industries, container terminals, and areas designated for handling various cargoes.
Oil, derivatives, chemicals, machinery, steel, grains, and goods destined for the North American market and foreign trade circulate through the channel.
Official data from Port Houston indicates that the complex moved 309.5 million short tons in 2023, the last consolidated number released for the entire waterway. Houston appears as the largest port in the United States in tonnage transported by waterway.
The channel remains busy 24 hours a day. While ships enter and leave the terminals, currents, tides, and waterways carry particles that end up deposited at the bottom.
Without periodic dredging, certain areas become shallower and may restrict the draft of ships, especially during low tide.
DB Catalina measures more than 77 meters
The DB Catalina functions as a large floating excavation platform. According to the technical sheet from Curtin Maritime, the structure is 254 feet long, 86 feet wide, and 16 feet high.
The measurements correspond to approximately 77.4 meters in length, 26.2 meters in width, and 4.9 meters in structural hull height.
The vessel uses three large metal stakes, called spuds, to stay positioned during excavation. Two fixed stakes measure 127 feet, about 38.7 meters, and weigh approximately 110,000 pounds each, equivalent to almost 50 tons.
The third is a movable stake of 125 feet, approximately 38.1 meters. It weighs about 130,000 pounds, or nearly 59 tons, and also allows the platform to gradually advance through the dredging section.
At the center of the operation is an SKK-1600GE crane, equipped with a 105-foot boom, approximately 32 meters. With the boom positioned at a 60-degree angle, the equipment reaches an operational radius of 71 feet, about 21.6 meters.
The maximum lifting capacity reported by Curtin Maritime is 352,740 pounds, equivalent to 160 metric tons.
Largest bucket holds almost 80 cubic meters
The DB Catalina can work with five buckets developed for different types of soil and excavation conditions.
The largest is the Cable Arm, with a capacity of 104 cubic yards. The volume corresponds to approximately 79.5 cubic meters, a quantity comparable to the load carried by about ten dump trucks, depending on the capacity of each vehicle.
Therefore, the bucket does not hold more than 100 cubic meters, as some previous descriptions indicated. The number over 100 refers to cubic yards, a unit used in the United States.
The smallest configuration has a volumetric capacity of 20 cubic yards and can work with loads of up to 130 tons. The vessel also has a 55-ton mechanical chisel, used in the preparation of more resistant materials before removal.
Instead of continuously cutting the bottom, the bucket is lowered open, rests on the sediment, and closes its two parts around the mud. Then, the crane lifts the load and dumps it into a barge positioned next to the dredge.
According to the operation shown by BuildWitt, each cycle can last approximately 90 seconds. Under normal conditions, several removals are needed for each area to reach the depth determined by the hydrographic survey.
Operator controls bucket by GPS
The depth sought in the section presented by the channel varies between 40 and 41 feet, approximately 12.2 to 12.5 meters.
The work needs to be carried out without permanently closing the waterway. Tankers, cargo ships, and container ships continue to pass close to the platform while sediment removal takes place.
When a vessel takes up too much space to cross safely, the team collects or repositions the stakes and temporarily moves the dredge. After the ship passes, the DB Catalina returns to the scheduled point and resumes service.
The crane operator cannot directly observe the bucket when it is submerged. Therefore, they use screens that gather GPS data, platform position, seabed surveys, predicted depth, and estimated load weight.
The dredge also has automated software developed to increase the precision of movements, control excavation cycles, and prevent already dredged areas from being worked on again unnecessarily.
Hybrid system recovers energy from the bucket
The DB Catalina is powered by two Wabtec 12V250 generators, each with a capacity of 2 megawatts. Together, they can provide up to 4 megawatts of electrical power.
The equipment meets the EPA Tier 4 environmental standard, created to limit emissions from engines used in heavy machinery and off-road applications.
The hybrid system does not rely solely on conventional batteries. The dredge uses supercapacitors capable of receiving and releasing large amounts of energy quickly.
During the descent and deceleration of the bucket, part of the energy is recovered and stored. Later, this electricity feeds the engines during hoisting, when the crane needs more power.
According to Curtin Maritime, the process reduces the load on the generators, fuel consumption, and peaks in electrical demand. When connected to a land power source, the DB Catalina can also operate fully electrically, without direct emissions from the onboard engines.
The platform’s tanks store up to 271,000 gallons of fuel in its reported operational capacity, approximately 1.03 million liters.
Structure allows operation throughout the day
The DB Catalina has air-conditioned accommodations, a commercial kitchen, work areas, and bathrooms for the crew. However, Curtin Maritime’s own technical page presents differing numbers regarding internal capacity.
One section reports 12 beds and 11 bathrooms, while another mentions 18 beds and ten bathrooms. Due to this inconsistency in the official source, the exact number of accommodations should be treated with caution.
The vessel also has a fully electric auxiliary tugboat with 1,000 horsepower, used to support the movement of the platform and structures involved in dredging.
The operation occurs in shifts, allowing sediment removal to continue day and night. Some workers remain on board for extended periods while the dredge advances through the channel.
Millions of cubic meters still need to be removed
In the project shown by BuildWitt, the initially accumulated volume reached approximately eight million cubic yards of sediments. This is equivalent to about 6.1 million cubic meters.
At the time of recording, approximately three million cubic yards had already been removed, while another five million still remained at the bottom.
The DB Catalina could move about 2,500 cubic yards of mud per hour, approximately 1,911 cubic meters. Once a section reached the planned depth, the platform used its stakes to advance about 27 feet, a little over eight meters, and restart the process.
The removed material was dumped into a barge next to the dredge. Before pumping, the mud passed through a grate intended to retain tires, wood, and other debris that could block the system.
When loaded, the barge was taken to an area prepared to receive the sediments. There, pumps transferred the content to the unloading facility.
The entire sequence needs to function in a synchronized manner. If a barge is not emptied, a pump gets blocked, or the material transport is interrupted, the excavation also needs to stop.
The DB Catalina thus represents a central piece of a less visible but indispensable operation to keep the Houston Ship Channel deep enough to accommodate some of the largest commercial ships in circulation.
Sources used: official technical sheet of the DB Catalina, published by Curtin Maritime; video Inside America’s Largest Dredge (1 Bus Per Scoop), by BuildWitt, published on May 23, 2026; and official statistics of Port Houston. Curtin confirms the dimensions, buckets, lifting capacity, generators, stakes, fuel, and hybrid operation. The official port data records 309.5 million short tons moved in the channel in 2023 and more than 200 private facilities and eight public terminals in the complex. The BuildWitt video confirms the monitoring of the operation in Houston and the specific project data presented in the report.
