St. Bernard Parish, La., January 20, 2023 — The Lake Borgne Marsh Creation Project (LBMC) in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, is in full swing, and on Friday, January 20, dredging contractor and DCA member Mike…
On October 3 at Southwest Shipyard in Galveston, Texas, the Mike Hooks, LLC family and members of its leadership team had the esteemed honor of giving USACE Galveston District Commander Colonel Rhett Blackmon and his navigation leaders a full hands-on tour of its state-of-the-art vessel currently under construction, the 27-inch cutter suction dredge Lorraine Hooks, named after the family matriarch and wife of founder Mike Hooks.
During the tour Col. Blackmon…
Remember the massive 20,000- container ship under the Panamanian Flag that blocked the Suez last year, halting as much as $10 billion in trade per day? Well, we now have our own version of this calamity right in our backyard in the Chesapeake Bay. The Ever Forward is a Hong Kong-flagged, 11,850-container ship that is aground just south of Baltimore in the Chesapeake Bay. The vessel steered off…
Galveston, TX – June 21, 2021 – Callan Marine, Ltd. announces the release of the tender package for construction of its latest fleet addition, a trailer suction hopper dredge to be named The Admiral Nimitz. The Admiral Nimitz will be the nation’s largest capacity trailing suction hopper dredge.
The Admiral Nimitz has an overall length of 422 ft. and a breadth of 92’ and has a hopper capacity of 16,000 cubic yards. The Nimitz…
Congress recently made a major, if little noticed, new investment in American infrastructure. As part of the year-end budget deal, lawmakers released $10 billion that had been locked away in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) to be used for its intended purpose: dredging U.S. harbors to keep our ports open and to support U.S. economic and national security.
Maritime infrastructure is an indispensable national asset, which is why the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recognizes the Maritime Transportation System (MTS) as one of the seven critical subsectors within…
The American Maritime Partnership (AMP), the voice of the nation’s domestic maritime industry, today applauds the new Executive Order to be signed by President Biden on January 25, 2021, “Strengthening ‘Buy American’ Provisions, Ensuring Future of America is Made in America by All of America’s Workers.” Signaled as a priority, the Executive Order formally confirms the Biden Administration’s policy to strongly support American Maritime workers and businesses serving…
On December 22, 2020, the Dredging Contractors of America (DCA) praised congressional passage of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2020 as part of the FY 2021 omnibus spending bill and urged President Trump to sign it into law. DCA’s CEO & Executive Director Richard Balzano made the following statement in support of WRDA’s passage:
“For the first time WRDA will open the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) for its…
The Dredging Contractors of America (DCA), the national trade association whose members are leading providers of dredging services for navigation, coastal protection, environmental restoration and shoreline resilience in the United States, announced on December 11, 2020, that Richard A. Balzano has been named Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director.
For more than 30 years Mr. Balzano has served the maritime trades in both the private and U.S government sectors. He…
Today, Seattle-based Manson Construction Co. announced the execution of a contract for the construction of a 15,000 cubic yard hopper dredge with Keppel AmFELS. Designed in collaboration with Hockema Whalen Myers Associates (HWMA), the Frederick Paup will be built at Keppel AmFELS’ facility in Brownsville, Texas and is slated to be fully operational in Spring 2023.
“This is an exciting time in the U.S. dredging industry,” said…
“The U.S. dredging industry joins the Corpus Christi, TX, community in deepest sorrow over yesterday’s pipeline incident involving the dredge Waymon Boyd. We send our thoughts and prayers to the injured and missing crew members, their families, and anyone who may have suffered from this terrible event,” said Eric Ellefsen, President of Dredging Contractors of America.