Page 19: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2025)

The U.S. dredging industry’s future is bright, with more than $3B invested in a ? eet of new vessels and capabilities and a new Administration that is pro-business, pro-industry and pro-

America. A long list of major port deepening projects, in step with routine maintenance dredging and the provision of new buffers against larger, more frequent storms, promises to keep this U.S. dredging industry gainfully employed for years to come.

Bill Doyle, CEO of Dredging Contractors of America (DCA), offers insights on what’s to come in 2025 and beyond.

By Greg Trauthwein n the midst of 2022, the U.S. dredging business in a Covid- Martin Curtin, the founder of Curtin Maritime, literally induced tailspin, premised on the Army Corps of Engi- came up from the deck plates, working on tugboats, then neer’s inability to get the normal load of jobs out to private owning them, then expanding to the point of building and

Iindustry, a situation that lasted into the start of 2023. repairing his own. Along the way, Curtin has taken clam- “The rebound started in May of 2023 and has run all the shell dredges to the next level, as shown by the clamshell way through 2024,” said Bill Doyle, CEO, DCA, a rebound dredge DB Avalon built in 2022: a hybrid-powered dredge driven by government work as well as energy companies that vessel and is considered the lowest carbon footprint clam- privately own their terminals and docks “and wanted to attach shell dredge of its class, out? tted with energy-ef? cient Tier 4 it to a federal channel.” QSK60 Cummins generators. Avalon’s hybrid power source

By all accounts, it appears the good times in U.S. dredging are allows for generators two-thirds the size of a conventional poised to continue, driven by major ports demands to deepen dredge vessel, reducing CO2 emissions by 30%, using a navigation channels (most notably in New York/New Jersey, proven Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCT) technology with which recently unveiled its 50-year plan; as well as the Port of a ? ow-through exhaust after-treatment system, using diesel

Wilmington; Port of Corpus Christie; Port of Baltimore and Lou- exhaust ? uid (DEF), to deliver ultra-low emissions.

isiana, too) to handle increasingly large ships, as well as the nev- In addition, four banks of 20 battery modules each, are er-ending balance of maintenance dredging in the name of safe controlled by the latest software that optimizes charge and navigation, and last but certainly not least, the coastal restoration discharge cycles by harnessing regenerative power from nor- and beach nourishment that is helping to fortify the security of mal digging operations and re-charging the batteries, further some of the country’s largest cities in the face of rising tides. reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

The DB Avalon has taken on multiple dredging projects in the Houston Ship Channel, San Juan Harbor in Puerto Rico

THE FLEET

When ‘innovative, emission-ef? cient maritime tonnage’ is and is now working in the Chesapeake Bay on the Baltimore the topic, dredgers more than likely are not an industry execu- approach channels. tive’s ? rst thought. If true, that’s all changing now, as the in- Looking at the industry wholistically, the U.S. dredging indus- dustry cumulatively has delivered and continues to order high- try is in the midst of a $3 billion recapitalization with a focus tech, low-emission dredgers of all varieties to join the ? eet. on enhancing the capacity and ef? ciency of the ? eet to meet the “We’re always seeing the dredge industry improve and inno- growing demands of federal and private sector projects. vate – that’s part of the competition between the this heavily “I think the order level is appropriate,” said Doyle, noting saturated market in the United States,” says Doyle, adding, “A that “I’m the guy that has to manage competitors! DCA is an relatively new entrant, Curtin Maritime, has really taken off in organization of companies that ? ercely compete with each the clamshell market over the past ? ve years.” other.” More modern, cable dredgers on the market mean www.marinetechnologynews.com 19

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