It must also be considered that such pontoons can be used to create temporary jetties when operating in rivers or lakes with banks too shallow to allow small boats to approach, forcing personnel to jump into the water to embark and disembark, and preventing the transfer of large equipment. Regarding the historical origin of these technologies, it is worth noting that while the use of floating bridges dates back to antiquity, and perhaps earlier, the concept of using modular floating jetties to create entire port facilities dates back to World War II, when the British engineered and deployed temporary, portable harbors known as "Mulberry Harbours" for the D-Day landings on the Normandy coast (France) in June 1944 (see the picture below).

Current road-transportable modular pontoons, convenient for organizing diving and ROV operations in the aforementioned areas, can be made of steel and high-density polyethylene (plastic). Note that while anodized aluminum is still used in the construction of floats for some marina pontoons and small barges, it appears that this material is no longer employed in the design of road-transportable modular pontoons, except for frames supporting additional floors. Modular steel pontoons are typically composed of rectangular modules that are often compartmentalized into several sections. These compartments are frequently left empty, which allows for regular verification of their integrity. In some cases, they may be filled with closed-cell foam to reduce the risk of flooding in case of punctures or leaks. However, this advantage results in the inconvenience that the integrity of compartments cannot be visually checked from inside. The decision to leave compartments empty or fill them with foam depends on several factors, including the manufacturer's design, the intended use of the pontoon, and specific client requirements. These pontoons are provided with clamping systems allowing them to be assembled in various configurations to create large surface supports. These configurations can be customized to surround structures or be simple shapes like squares or rectangles. These clamping systems are usually specific to each manufacturer, so merging pontoons from two different manufacturers is not ordinarily possible. We can see these differences in the modules below from Poseidon Barge (https://www.poseidonbarge.com) and ETC Marine (https://www.ectmarine.com). The smaller modules are typically about 4 m (L) × 2 m (W) × 0.7 m (H), weigh between 1.2 and 2 tonnes, and have a load capacity of up to 10,000 kg/m², depending on the unit. The larger modules can typically be up to approximately 12 m (L) × 3 m (W) × 1.5 m (H), weigh around 11 tonnes, and have a load capacity of up to 10,000 kg/m². Barges designed with such modular pontoons can be anchored in various water bodies such as lakes, rivers, or ports using anchors or legs, depending on the operational depth. They can also be equipped with portable thrusters and dynamic positioning (DP) systems, allowing self-propulsion and positioning, such as illustrated below by Thrustmaster (https://www.thrustmaster.net), a well-known manufacturer of such equipment.