Van Oord's Ham 316 is hard at work reclaiming what will be the final part of the Palm trilogy — Palm Deira. Hyderabad News meets the team behind the world's biggest reclamation project, currently taking shape off the coast of Dubai.

It is one of the biggest dredgers in the world and it is working on the biggest land reclamation project in the world. How big is big? Well the bridge of Van Oord's Ham 316 hopper dredger is the size of a five-a-side football pitch and it has more gadgets and dials on display than the Starship Enterprise.

But the mainly Dutch crew of this giant island-making machine are a bit more laid back than their Star Trek counterparts. You get the impression that the discovery of 'Klingons' on the starboard bow would not cause too much concern here — they'd probably be invited in to watch the football and have a drink in the vessel's cosy on-board bar.

Managing this and all of the other Van Oord offshore projects in Dubai is Jan Schaart — the Captain Kirk of the company's Middle East operations and responsible for a workforce of around 800 people.

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