Coastal Dredging Wraps Up West Calcasieu Port Dredging Work

West Calcasieu Port, located in Sulphur, Louisiana, said in its latest release that dredging operations in the port’s west barge basin were completed on August 24.

Image source: Coastal Dredging

Coastal Dredging of Hammond, La., was the contractor on the $1.3 million maintenance dredging project that removed more than 140,000 cubic yards of spoils over a 10-week period.

The port’s barge basin depth was returned to a minus-10 feet, and the spoils were relocated into the ports federally mandated spoils reception area located nearby on port property.

“It has been more than eight years since the port’s barge basin was last serviced, and over that extended period of time, the basin attracts a considerable amount of soil due to constantly moving currents along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway where the port is located,” said Lynn Hohensee, port director.

“Periodic dredging of the basin is needed to keep the 75-90 barge spaces in a safe and operationally sound condition, so that our port tenants can efficiently fleet and service the shallow water barges that daily come in and out of our port fleet,” he added. “This is especially critical to our support for our port tenants who facilitate barge fleeting and cleaning/repair services for 120-150 barges daily.”

“The initial phase of the project focused on increasing the height of the levees surrounding the port’s 39.5-acre spoils reception area, to ensure it could accommodate the additional spoils material. The new height of our spoils containment area levees is now at 17 feet above sea level.”

He also added that use of the spoils – as in the past dredging operations – has an economic beneficial use, because the port’s long-term strategic plan calls for the spoils area to eventually become a viable development site for future tenant occupancy.