Dredges Built in the U.S. Since WWII

Most recent update: May 9, 2020.

Until 1960, most of the dredging of U.S. ports and waterways was done by the Corps of Engineers, using their own equipment. In the early 1960s, however, the Merchant Marine Act was modified to allow private-sector contractors to take up the load: in addition, the Jones Act was modified to include dredge spoil. As a result, all the new private-sector dredges had to be US-built as well as US-operated. These changes resulted in all but one of the Corps' dredges being retired and there was a boom in private-sector dredge construction in the 1970s and 80s. The table below lists all the large dredges built since WWII by year built.

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Builder Location O/N Name Customer Type Capacity (CY) GT LOA Price ($M) Delivered Notes
Corps of Engineers Dredges (13)
Ingalls SB Pascagoula MS 500 Comber USACE TSHD 2,300 6,000 352 1947 scrapped
Ingalls SB Pascagoula MS 501 Gerig USACE TSHD 2,300 6,000 352 1947 scrapped 1991
Ingalls SB Pascagoula MS 502 Langfitt USACE TSHD 2,300 6,000 352 1947 scrapped
Ingalls SB Pascagoula MS 503 Biddle USACE TSHD 2,300 6,000 352 1947 scrapped
Sun Ship Chester PA 565 Essayons USACE TSHD 6,100 12,000 525 1950 scrapped
Avondale Avondale LA 904 Markham USACE TSHD 2,070 5,400 339 1960 reefed 1994
Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point MD 4608 McFarland USACE TSHD 3,140 6,000 300 15 1967
Norshipco Norfolk VA 168 Yaquina USACE TSHD 1,020 1,960 193 14 1981
Avondale Avondale LA 2322 Wheeler USACE TSHD 8,256 12,000 381 67 1982
Bath Iron Works Bath ME 402 Essayons USACE TSHD 6,000 12,000 350 65 1982
Halter Marine Moss Point MS 1247 Hurley USACE DP 350 1983
LeTourneau Ind. Vickburg MS 229 Goetz USACE CSD 200 2005
Conrad SY Morgan City LA 896 Murden USACE TSHD 150 2012
Commercial Dredges (40)
Tampa Marine Tampa FL Export Roosevelt Mining Equipment Co. 3,800 1947 scrapped
Tampa Marine Tampa FL Export Stuyvesant Mining Equipment Co. 3,800 1947 scrapped
Gulfport SB Port Arthur TX 341 Export Ciudad de Barranquilla Govt. of Colombia 3,715 1949 scrapped 1984
Todd Houston Houston TX 245 283416 Alaska Great Lakes Dredge & Dock CSD 1,433 220 1960
American Marine New Orleans LA 290028 Pontchartrain Great Lakes Dredge & Dock CSD 656 170 1962
Avondale Avondale LA 1019 292779 California Great Lakes Dredge & Dock CSD 1,109 190 1962
NASSCO San Diego CA 332 506446 Sensibar Bros. Sensibar Brothers CSD 1,109 190 1962 later Florida
Avondale Avondale LA 1033 292613 Fritz Jahncke Jahncke Services CSD 1,300 186 1963 later G. D. Morgan
Todd Houston Houston TX 567 532555 Ezra Sensibar Sensibar Brothers TSHD 16,000 10,300 500 1971 later Long Island, scrapped
Bean, C. F. Belle Chasse LA 30 552707 Jim Bean Great Lakes Dredge & Dock CSD 2,349 263 1973 later Carolina
Avondale Avondale LA 2269 560225 G. L. 54 Great Lakes Dredge & Dock CSD 1,100 185 1973 inactive
Avondale Avondale LA 2302 580274 Illinois Great Lakes Dredge & Dock CSD 1,400 220 1977
Southern Sbldg. Slidell LA 117 583706 Manhattan Island Ballast Nedam Dredging TSHD 3,600 2,400 281 14 1977 (Marshall I.)
Zidell Marine Portland OR 607 592239 Westport Manson Construction Co. TSHD 1,800 851 180 1978
Southern Sbldg. Slidell LA 119 606519 sugar Island Ballast Nedam Dredging TSHD 3,600 2,400 281 14 1979 (Marshall I.)
Bergeron Braithwaite LA 1123 627368 Texas Great Lakes Dredge & Dock CSD 3,479 305 1979
Twin-City Dock Saint Paul MN 552 630008 Atchafalaya Gulf Coast Dredging TSHD 1,300 850 195 1980
Southern Sbldg. Slidell LA 120 625328 Dodge Island Ballast Nedam Dredging TSHD 3,600 2,400 281 16 1980
Twin-City Dock Saint Paul MN 668 643740 Mermentau Gulf Coast Dredging TSHD 1,300 850 195 1981 (Colombia)
Avondale Avondale LA 2320 630823 Eagle 1 Bean Dredging TSHD 6,600 5,700 316 38 1981 later Terrapin Island
Southern Sbldg. Slidell LA 123 639291 Padre Island Ballast Nedam Dredging TSHD 3,600 2,400 281 18 1981
Avondale Avondale LA 2332 648540 Stuyvesant Stuyvesant Dredging TSHD 11,200 7,110 368 30 1982
Barnett Marine New Orleans LA 98 654551 Meridian Bean-Horizon, Inc. CSD 1,693 113 1982 later E. W. Ellefsen
Moss Point Marine Escatawpa MS 25 644880 Beachbuilder Great Lakes Dredge & Dock CSD 3,005 275 1982 later Ohio
Nichols Bros. Freeland WA 67 658434 Newport Manson Construction CSD 2,500 262 1983
Southern Sbldg. Slidell LA 126 664129 Northerly Island Ballast Nedam Dredging TSHD 2,160 2,400 281 25 1983 (Marshall I.)
Twin-City Dock Saint Paul MN 885 685093 Ouachita Gulf Coast Dredging TSHD 4,150 3,400 295 25 1985 later B. E. Lindholm
McDermott SB Amelia LA 276 908078 Atlantic American Atlantic American Dredging TSHD 4,000 2,700 292 14 1987 later R. N. Weeks
Gunderson Portland OR 44 1048828 Bayport Manson Construction Co. TSHD 5,000 2,151 300 1996
Gunderson Portland OR 47 1073113 Mr. Manson II Manson Construction Co. CSD 1,694 215 1997 later H. R. Morris
Great Lakes Dredge Chicago IL 17 1142982 Arizona Great Lakes Dredge & Dock CSD 646 220 1997
Bay Shipbuilding Sturgeon Bay WI 744 1077537 New York Great Lakes Dredge BD 1,485 200 1999
Bay Shipbuilding Sturgeon Bay WI 746 1117966 Liberty Island Great Lakes Dredge TSHD 6,540 5,300 315 52 2002
Bay Shipbuilding Sturgeon Bay WI 747 1102692 James B Lake Michigan Contractors CSD 1,679 247 2002 later Charleston
Alabama Mobile AL 100 1180182 Glenn Edwards Manson Construction TSHD 9,180 9,500 711 2006
Eastern Shipbuilding Panama City FL 253 1256673 Ellis Island Great Lakes Dredge TSHD 9,976 374 2017
Eastern Shipbuilding Panama City FL 256 1266740 Magdalen Weeks Marine TSHD 7,581 326 2017
Corn Island SY Lamar IN 323 1266767 Weeks 321 Weeks Marine TSHD 4,366 340 2018
C & C Marine Houma LA 307 1278460 J. S. Chatry Weeks Marine TSHD 4,811 310 2019
Eastern Shipbuilding Panama City FL 258 R. B. Weeks Weeks Marine TSHD 7,581 326 2023

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