Hanson noted that 10 new dredges have entered the U.S. “We benefit from a more structured and well-funded approach in that we can better understand where the market is headed and make the appropriate investments in new equipment.” “With improved investments in ports, waterways and coastal projects, our clients can gear up their staffs and programs,” Hanson said. dredge fleet, said Bill Hanson, vice president of government relations for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company. Those long-term investments in the nation’s waterways and coastal regions have led to historic investment in the future of the U.S. That, along with projects planned or progressing at the Houston Ship Channel and the Corpus Christi Ship Channel, will mean years’ worth of channel-deepening work for Gulf Coast ports, along with routine operations and maintenance.Ĭoncurrent with the channel deepening announcements in 2020, states along the Gulf Coast also rolled out hundreds of millions of dollars in coastal restoration projects last year. Stephen Murphy, commander of the New Orleans Engineer District, gathered at the New Orleans District’s headquarters to sign the partnership agreement for the Mississippi River deepening.įunding for those two projects, which are now underway, totals more than $600 million. Dianna Holland, commander of the Corps’ Mississippi Valley Division and Col. John Bel Edwards Renee Lapeyrolerie, multimodal commissioner for the state Maj.

Sebastien Joly, and John Driscoll, CEO of the Alabama State Port Authority, signed the project partnership agreement for the Mobile Harbor deepening in June. The Mobile Engineer District’s commander, Col. The work plan, remarkably, included both funding for the first phase of deepening the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge, La., to the Gulf of Mexico to 50 feet and more than $274 million to fully fund the construction of the Mobile Harbor channel deepening project in Alabama, which will also bring that channel to 50 feet.

Army Corps of Engineers’ 2020 work plan, released February 10.

The waterway deepening news started early in the year, with the U.S. While COVID-19 proved the dominant newsmaker for much of 2020, a steady stream of dredging and waterway announcements during the year will, hopefully, have a much more enduring-and endearing-impact on the maritime industry.

Bubble up dredging