Posted on July 8, 2026
Brought to Brazil for an operation capable of altering the routine of an entire port, the giant dredger No Woman, No Cry came into play to deepen navigation channels and restore the necessary depth to docking berths to accommodate large ships.
The public record of the Brazilian Mining Institute (IBRAM) is from March 3, 2010, when the institute reported that the dipper model equipment had been docked since the previous week at the Port of Itaqui, in Maranhão.
According to IBRAM, the dredging project was planned to allow the arrival of vessels with a capacity above 75,000 tons, in a port whose operation depended on the recovery of depth in the channels and docking berths.
Giant dredger No Woman, No Cry works on the seabed
Due to its size and the role it played, the machine draws attention in a part of port logistics that almost never appears to the public, although it is crucial for the entry and exit of cargo ships.
While cranes, off-road trucks, and vessels often appear in operational images, the dredger operated in a less visible and more critical area: the seabed, where sediments can limit navigation.
In this submerged area, sand, mud, and silting reduce the operational depth of channels and berths, creating restrictions that prevent larger vessels from navigating safely to the docking point.
According to IBRAM, the No Woman, No Cry was 65 meters long, 19 meters wide, 4 meters high, with an installed excavation power of 2,735 HP.
At the time it arrived in the country, the structure was described as the second-largest dipper dredger in the world, brought under a rental agreement from the Netherlands by the Camargo Corrêa-Serveng consortium for the deepening dredging of the navigation channel of the Port of Itaqui.
Port of Itaqui gained depth to accommodate larger ships
The planned service involved the removal of 1.8 million cubic meters of sand from the sea, a volume sufficient to increase the depth of berths 101 and 102 of Itaqui from 11 to 15 meters.
