Galveston-based dredging contractor Callan Marine has been awarded a $136 million contract from Port Houston to dredge segment 1C of the Houston Ship Channel Expansion, under the port's Project 11 program.
Callan will use its recently christened 32-inch cutter suction dredge, the General Arnold, among the newest, largest and most environmentally friendly cutter suction dredge in the U.S. fleet for the undertaking. The dredge features four EPA Tier 4 engines developing a combined 24,000 horsepower and utilizing exhaust gas re-circulation technology to reduce emissions to sub-Tier 4 levels.
The award to Callan Marine marks Port Houston’s final Project 11 dredge contract, and its work will complete the channel reach through Galveston Bay underscoring the commission’s dedication to strategic infrastructure development for the betterment of the safety and efficiency of the channel. The remaining Project 11 segments will be carried out by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Long Beach, Calif.-based Curtin Maritime Corp. recently completed its dredging operations in the channel, and as a result, upon U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acceptance and Aids to Navigation (ATON) relocation, daylight restrictions are expected to be lifted along an additional 3 1/2 miles of its reach. This means roughly 30 minutes of additional transit time should now be available for deep-draft vessels in the nation’s busiest waterway.
Curtin used its Tier 4 clamshell dredge Avalon to dredge approximately 5 million cubic yards of material, some of which was used to create 260 acres of oyster mitigation improvements between the San Leon and Dollar Reef sites.