Great Lakes Dredge & Dock awarded Houston Ship Channel contract

Written by Nick Blenkey
Lasse Petterson

GLDD president and CEO Lasse Petterson: “We are very pleased to have won this first contract within a year of relocating and becoming a Houston-based contractor.”

Houston-headquartered Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation (NASDAQ: GLDD) reports the signing of a $92.5 million dredging contract for the Houston Ship Channel Widening and Improvement Project 11. This is the first phase of the extensive, multi-phase Houston Ship Channel billion-dollar expansion and deepening program.

Dredging is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2022 with estimated completion in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Project 11 is an ambitious plan to widen the 52-mile Houston Ship Channel. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock’s awarded work entails the dredging of 11½-miles of the channel, widening a major portion of the Galveston Bay reach from 530 to 700 feet. The project will allow for larger containerships and tankers to more safely and efficiently navigate the Houston Ship Channel to access the Port of Houston. In addition to widening the channel, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock will pump 1.6 million cubic yards of dredged material to beneficially construct a new island for bird habitat and oyster mitigation.

In evaluating proposals, the Port of Houston placed significant value on the dredging equipment’s total emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) while performing the contract.

“Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is investing $4.5 million dollars to improve emissions on the cutter suction dredge Carolina and the company’s largest booster station Buster, by upgrading the vessels’ diesel engines and installing selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems,” said David Simonelli, GLDD’s chief operating officer. “The upgrades and SCRs are designed to treat the exhaust of the engines to reduce NOx and particulate matter emissions. Retrofitting our equipment demonstrates our commitment to Port of Houston and supports our goal of reducing our overall environmental impact as we strive to leave the areas we work in a better state than when we started.”

“We are very pleased to have won this first contract within a year of relocating and becoming a Houston-based contractor,” said GLDD president and CEO Lasse Petterson. “The RFP tendering process involved an extensive evaluation of the competing contractors’ past port deepening experience, execution methods, equipment capabilities, environmental mitigation and safe work methods in addition to price. We thank the Port of Houston for the award of this important contract and are pleased to add this work to our extensive list of port deepening projects. We believe this important project will deliver long standing benefits to the local economy.”

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