Upgrading dock capacity by adding sections

The 1902 Bermuda dock used a pontoon-and-sidewall form that made it more towable than earlier counterparts. A floating dock could also grow with changing requirements because engineers could fabricate another section, tow it into place, and attach it to the existing structure. Enlarging a graving dock could instead demand excavation, land acquisition, or changes to the surrounding soil. Sectional enlargement remained a major load-bearing engineering job even when professional accounts described it in deceptively mild language.