W
hen maritime stakeholders think about dredg-
ing, they typically fi rst conjure up visions of
harbor deepening projects to accommodate
those giant, post-Panamax boxships. Conversely, inland
players hope for maintenance dredging in the heartland to
keep the nation’s 31,000 cargo barges afl oat as they head
for the coast. But, there is much more to it than that.
In Louisiana, dredging, of course, keeps Louisiana's wa-
terways open for navigation, provides material for coastal
restoration and helps industrial plants with drainage. The
biggest projects are sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers (USACE) in New Orleans and the state's
Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA).
The state's newest and largest restoration projects will span
several decades and could cost $1 billion or more each. In
this case, they are badly needed as the shoreline shrinks.
In the last 50 years, Louisiana lost about 34 square miles
of marsh and other land annually to the sea. The state has
relinquished 2,000 square miles since 1932. Louisiana's
dredging industry welcomes, albeit with some reservations,
the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation
Act, or WIIN, approved by Congress in December, along
with a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' plan, announced in
December, to deepen waterways.
WIIN, (Win?)
WIIN, signed into law by President Obama on December
16, facilitates harbor and channel deepening, and expands
the fed-state, cost-sharing for navigation-construction proj-
ects from 45 to 50 feet deep. That means waterways will
be able to accommodate larger vessels. WIIN allows the
Army Corps to make improvements to ports, waterways,
dams and fl ood protection. It authorizes 30 new infrastruc-
ture projects across the nation. Congress will still have to
appropriate funding for most of these projects, however.
WIIN also establishes a pilot program for activities that use
dredged material. It calls for Harbor Maintenance Tax fund-
ing targets to grow by 3 percent annually over each previous
year, with a goal of providing all collected HMT revenues
for use by the nation's ports and harbors by fi scal 2025.
Sean Duffy, executive director of the Big River Coalition
in Metairie, La., said WIIN's navigation and construction
provisions will increase opportunities for Louisiana's dredg-
ing industry. The Coalition's 100 maritime members rely
on the Mississippi River. Separately, a plan released by the
Army Corps in December would deepen portions of the
Mississippi River navigation channel, including stretches
between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, to 50 feet. The
channel measures 45 to 47 feet deep now. More dredg-
ing would allow Mississippi River ports like New Orleans,
Plaquemines and South Louisiana to handle large post-pan-
amax vessels traveling through the expanded Panama Canal.Coastal Master Plan Projects
Released in January, Louisiana's $50 billion, 50-year
2017 draft Coastal Master Plan includes large-scale marsh
creation projects that depend on dredging. The plan is an
update of earlier versions in 2012 and 2007.
“These marsh creation projects will be implemented
over several decades and in multiple phases,” Rudy Simo-
neaux, manager of CPRA’s engineering division, said last
month. The projects include $1.8 billion for Belle Pass to
Golden Meadow Marsh Creation on 24,800 acres; $680
million for Large Scale Barataria Marsh Creation on over
12,400 acres; and $1 billion for New Orleans East Land-
bridge Restoration on 21,400 acres.DREDGING OUTLOOK
Credit: GLDDThe dredge Alaska working on
assignment at Cheneire Ronquile32 MN February 2017