Eastern Shipbuilding to Build New Hopper Dredge for the USACE
Panama City, Fla. based Eastern Shipbuilding Group has been awarded a contract to design and build a new hopper dredge for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The $256,955,264 firm-fixed-price contract will see Eastern design and build the new medium-class hopper dredge (MCHD) for scheduled delivery in August 2027. Eastern was one of three bidders for the project.
The new 6,000-cubic-yard-capacity hopper dredge will replace the USACE Philadelphia District's high-powered deep draft hopper dredge McFarland, built in 1967. The newbuild will have a diesel-electric power system and azimuthing thruster propulsion.
Homeported at the USACE Fort Mifflin dock facility on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, the new dredge will generally be kept dockside on shore power in a standby mode as a "Ready Reserve" dredge to perform urgent or emergency dredging when needed. It will also complete 70 days of dredging in the Delaware River on an annual basis.
"The new MCHD will play a critical role in enabling the Corps to continue to deliver its navigation mission and provide for safe, reliable, effective and environmentally sustainable waterborne transportation systems for vital national security, commerce and recreation needs," the Corps said in a statement.
Eastern has built a number of hopper dredges in recent years, including newbuilds for Weeks Marine and Great Lakes Dredge & Dock.
