Page 40: of Marine News Magazine (June 2014)

DREDGING & INFRASTRUCTURELouisiana?s Dredging Needs Are Sizable Louisiana requires considerable maintenance dredging. ?Within the New Orleans District, our top two dredging projects are Operation and Maintenance of the Missis- sippi River from Baton Rouge to the Gulf of Mexico and O&M of the Calcasieu River in Southwest Louisiana,? Ricky Boyett, spokesman for the Army Corps? New Or- leans District, said last month. ?These channels must be maintained annually, and that typically involves multiple dredging contracts.? This year?s budget for the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to the Gulf is $95.1 million, and covers O&M items in addition to dredging, he said. ?Right now in the Mississippi River, we have the cut- terhead dredge GD MORGAN from Weeks Marine work- ing a contract for $13.6 million and the hopper dredge BAYPORT from Manson Construction working a con- tract for $6.2 million,? Boyett said in May. This spring both vessels were dredging near Head of Passes, where the Mississippi River branches off--into Southwest Pass to the west, South Pass in the center and Pass A Loutre to the east--at its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico. Weeks Marine is headquartered in New Jersey, with of ces in Louisiana and Texas, and Manson Construction is based in Houma, La. Southwest Pass is used by ocean vessels bound for ports from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. USACE maintains that channel to a 45-foot depth. In a bene cial use, GD MORGAN this spring was placing removed sediment in the environmentally sensitive Southwest Pass area. GLDD Dominates the U.S. MarketGreat Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation in Oak Brook, Ill., was the lone U.S.  rm among the world?s top ten dredging companies ranked by sales in 2012, according to Rabobank last fall. The largest dredger was CHEC in China, followed by Jan De Nul in Belgium. Fleets swelled at both of those companies from 2004 to 2012. Other top- Dredge Hurley working near Thebes. Courtesy USACE ? In 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused $50 billion worth of damage, and Katrina in 2005 inß icted $128 billion in losses in equivalent dollars. No value, of course, can be placed on lost lives. Rabobank noted that the cost of installing a good defense system before Sandy hit was an estimated $6.5 billion in 2009 ? only a fraction of the dollar value of damage caused by the storm. Governments need to take measures to protect populations from sea level rise and hurricanes, the bank warned in September. June 201440 MNMN June14 Layout 32-49.indd 40MN June14 Layout 32-49.indd 405/20/2014 10:23:02 AM5/20/2014 10:23:02 AM