'It appears that a
grab dredger, consisting of a crane with a clamshell bucket, is installed on the smaller barge to the west, while the other carries a backhoe.
Quoting an anonymous source, the report said that the syndicate uses a
grab dredger or crane barge to 'fish' for parts of the wreckage from the seabed.
One was the Jin Hang Jun 406, a
grab dredger and the 3,086-tonne cutter Xin Hai Tun, a suction dredger, the IHS report said.
After 43 years on the Tyne the last
grab dredger was sold last year to a developing Port in Africa.
The spokesman added that the Mersey Mariner
grab dredger would be retained for in-dock dredging.
Begun in July 1991 and not scheduled for completion until April 1993, this major undertaking has brought together a formidable fleet of dredgers, including several trailing suction hopper dredgers, a cutter suction dredger and
grab dredgers.