Great Lakes Dredge to move corporate headquarters to Houston

Written by Nick Blenkey
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America’s largest provider of dredging services, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. (NASDAQ: GLDD), is moving its corporate headquarters from Oak Brook, Ill., to Houston.

The company says that the move puts it closer to key regional customers and new markets, especially along the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River. It has also recently opened strategic regional offices in Jacksonville, Fla., and Staten Island, N.Y., where it long has run major projects and expects to take on additional work.

Great Lakes Dredge says the new headquarters and regional bases reflect its customer-focused initiatives and growth potential, opening up more public and private business opportunities, and strengthen its efforts to attract and retain a specialized workforce in Texas and other regions.

“The move to Houston is a testament to the region’s extraordinary diversity of talent and competitive landscape and supports our important connections and outreach in geographies that will better serve our customer base,” CEO Lasse Petterson said.

The Houston headquarters, scheduled to open in early 2021 with its executive leadership team, will be staffed gradually over the next 12 months. The company is initially searching for 20,000 square feet of office space in the Energy Corridor, between the Galleria and Beltway 8.

The company will maintain a business and operations support center in the Oak Brook, Ill., area.

The relocation stems in part from changing industry dynamics as the dredging market has shifted from Northern Illinois and the Great Lakes to work along the Gulf Coast and in the northeast and southeast coastal regions.

“Having our main office in Texas and strategically opening new regional offices allows us to engage more effectively with our major customers like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, private energy clients, local communities and others, provide enhanced services and build a more efficient marketplace,” Petterson said.

The move to Houston also will allow the company to leverage its long-term relationships with the Center for Dredging Studies at Texas A&M University, Louisiana State University and other universities that feature coastal resilience and natural infrastructure initiatives.

Great Lakes says it is looking to expand its work to support liquefied natural gas export terminals, large vessel oil tanker ports and offshore wind developments along the Eastern Seaboard that require specialized vessels and techniques.

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