Posted on August 12, 2026
Article
This story is not new, but it’s as dramatic now as when we first published it in 2020.
The video is still gripping and heart-wrenching to watch: the sad and unexpected end to one of the most famous and storied dredges in history.
The video is worth watching again.
Original Story
The world’s oldest cutter suction dredger (CSD), the Panama Canal Authority’s (ACP’s) Mindi, sank 160 km off Balboa as it was under tow to a new owner.
Mindi was built by US-based Ellicott Machine Corp, a predecessor of today’s Ellicott Dredges, which also supplied all the CSDs used in building the Panama Canal when the US bought the rights from France in 1903. Mindi was added to the ACP’s dredging fleet in 1943.
With a total installed power of 7,460 kW and cutter power of 745 kW, the 120.5 m long, 15.75 m wide vessel had a dredging depth of 22m and was a key component in the Panama Canal’s maintenance and widening.
“We are very sad about the Mindi, it was really a part of Ellicott history,” Paul Quinn, sales vice president of Ellicott Dredges, told DPC magazine. “I go by pictures of it every day – as I have for 18 years – and it’s sad to know it ended its life in such an unfortunate way after being such a productive tool in a prestigious application for 74 years.”
Following the handover of the Panama Canal by the US to Panama in 1999, and with the accession of ACP administrator Alberto Alemán Zubieta, plans to expand the Panama received an overwhelming vote of support from the Panamanian people in October 2006.
The writing was on the wall for Mindi, and that was confirmed in 2008 when ACP awarded a contract to Netherlands-based IHC Beaver for a new 12,000 kW CSD to replace it. Named Quibián I, the new CSD was delivered in 2011. It has a 25 m dredging depth and can tackle all sections of the Panama Canal.
Although updated and re-engined over the years, and with a history of reliability, Mindi was no match for Quibian I. ACP then awarded IHC a USD43 million contract to build a new backhoe dredger – named Alberto Alemán Zubieta, it was commissioned in May 2013. Including the giant dipper dredger Rialto M Christensen, ACP’s new modern dredging fleet was complete.
Still, ACP kept Mindi dredging until 2016, taking part in the expansion before announcing it would be honorably retired. All that changed in October 2018 when Mindi was put up for sale.
Quinn commented, “Back in 1941, Mindi cost USD1,525,500 and delivery to Panama, from Baltimore, was initially delayed by the US Navy upon its completion in 1942 due to fears it would be targeted by German U-Boats.”
He added, “Personally, I can’t understand why ACP decided to sell such an evocative part of the Panama Canal’s history. The vessel should have been placed at the Miraflores Locks visitor centre for grizzled dredgemasters to relive their youth and grandchildren to crawl over.
A museum would have been very appropriate and interesting end for Mindi. It’s been done a couple of other times, with the William M. Black for example. A steam-propelled, sidewheel dustpan dredge built in 1934 for the United States Army Corps of Engineers, it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992 and now serves as a museum ship at the Ice Harbor in Dubuque, Iowa.” Quinn concluded.
The final film shows Mindi listing to starboard before sinking.
Source: DredgeWire
