Dredging Work on Charleston Harbor Entrance Moves Ahead

Cutterhead suction dredger Texas at work, Image source: GLDD

Dredging operations in the Charleston Harbor Entrance Channel – part of the Post 45 Harbor Deepening Project – are moving forward, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District, informs.

Image source: USACE

Executing the first two contracts for this $529 million project, three dredgers and roughly 40 support vessels began deepening and extending the Entrance Channel to 54 feet in March 2018.

According to USACE, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company (GLDD) was awarded both contracts for the Entrance Channel.

They are using the cutterhead suction dredges Texas and Carolina, the two largest dredges of their kind in the United States, for the majority of the work.

The material from these dredges is pumped into scows, which are essentially floating dump trucks, and transported to the Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Site, where it is placed.