Corps of Engineers awards its largest dredging contract ever

OCTOBER 31, 2017 — Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation (NASDAQ:GLDD) has won a $213.3 million award for the Post 45 Charleston Entrance Channel Maintenance and New Work Dredging – Contract 2 Project base contract.

The scope of work includes excavation of approximately 8 million cubic yards of material to deepen a portion of the Charleston, South Carolina harbor entrance channel. Work is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.

Great Lakes expects the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to award the option work items of the contract within 120 days. This additional work consists of the excavation of 5.5 million cubic yards of soil valued at $65.1 million to complete the deepening of the entrance channel, resulting in a total contract amount of $278.4 million, totaling 13.5 million cubic yards of excavation which will be completed by the end of 2020.

David Simonelli, President, Dredging Division commented, “The Charleston 2 deepening project is an important win for the company representing the largest dredging contract ever awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer. Combined with the $47.2 million Charleston 1 deepening project Great Lakes won in August, our hopper and cutter dredges will excavate over 20 million cubic yards of material to deepen the 18 mile Charleston Entrance Channel. We are pleased to see the U.S. Corps of Engineers, State of South Carolina and South Carolina Port Authority moving this crucial work forward on an expedited basis to create neo-Panamax vessel access to Charleston.”

“The awarding of the second construction contract for dredging the Charleston Harbor Entrance Channel to 54 feet is tremendous news for South Carolina,” said South Carolina Ports Authority president and CEO Jim Newsome. “We look forward to seeing dredges in our harbor within the next few months and ultimately the completion of this effort that will make Charleston the deepest harbor on the East Coast at 52 feet. The investment in harbor deepening, as well as the Leatherman Terminal for additional container capacity and multiple other projects to improve our existing and Inland infrastructure, will pay dividends to South Carolina’s economy for many years to come.”