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Henri Boonen manages sand suckers from the computer in his office. He calls the on-board operator, who also sits at a PC monitor. Sand sucker De Riebos looks like some lazy grazer from a cartoon, but there’s no daydreaming here, because the suction pipe has to be placed precisely at the right sand. The pipe averages 1,000 tonnes an hour and has to be moved often. De Riebos is put in place with four winches and pulleys. It might look like a computer game, but we are definitely moving and bubbles are rising to the surface. The other sucker, De Reiger, has no pulleys, but moves forward in a straight line in three-metre strides. De Reiger sucks sand from the banks. This morning Henri takes the shuttle boat, a.k.a. tank barge, a.k.a. ice-breaker to the two suckers. They moor, sail, and walk on the sea-green decks, while the sun toys with the clouds. Henri has been inspired by his thirty years at Sibelco's. In his spare time he and his family run the Zilvermeer (silver lake) marina, which used to be a Sibelco quarry and is now a nature and recreation area near the neighbouring town of Mol.
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