Dredge Central Is Refurbishing Used Equipment
This 10-inch AMMCO dredge has been completely refurbished.
This IMS 5012 dredge was sunken in an act of vandalism and is now ready to work again.
When Dredge Central LLC opened its doors in Goodlettsville Tennessee in January of this year people who had been in the industry for decades at DMC AMMCO DMI and elsewhere staffed the new company.
Don King decided to launch a startup focused on dredge refurbishing so he assembled a management team and found new quarters that he was able to lease on short notice in the Nashville area.
Don King is president; James Morris is general manager; Rick King sales manager; Bobby Prince parts and purchasing; Jo Harris is administrative assistant; and Vivian White accounting. At any given time there are 10 to 12 crew working in and around the shop in addition to the management team. Together this group has well in excess of 200 years combined experience in the dredging industry.
Don has also re-established his long standing relationship with his old friend Leandro Montemayor of Mexico City who along with his grandson Ricardo Ponce is now acting as Dredge Central’s Latin American representative.
The new facility has 10000 square feet under one roof situated on a five-acre lot with easy access to Interstate 65 just north of Nashville and only 20 minutes from the airport. The building features spacious bays and overhead doors allowing work on as many as four dredges indoors if need be. Equipment has been purchased and installed for metal work of various kinds painting parts installation mechanical hydraulic electrical and finishing work together with cranes and forklifts for efficient material handling.
“We have purchased eight or nine dredges and currently have three or four finished and ready to sell” King said. His plan is to keep an inventory of 10 to 12 dredges of various sizes refurbished and on hand and the yard has plenty of space for that he said since beginning work in January.
King plans to deal exclusively with brandname dredges rather than shop-built ones. “The best dredges to refurbish are ones built by recognized companies such as Ellicott AMMCO Dixie DSC and DMC and those are most likely to be marketable” King said. Its search for dredges extends into Mexico and the Caribbean as well as the United States.
The final piece of the marketing puzzle came together with Dredge Central’s announcement of its agreement to exchange inquiries with Ellicott Dredges and its family of companies including LWT Mud Cat Rohr-Idreco and UMI. If Dredge Central gets an inquiry to which it cannot respond with an appropriate used dredge it will refer that client to Ellicott for a possible new dredge solution. By the same token if Ellicott receives an inquiry for which a refurbished dredge might be a better option it will refer that client to Dredge Central.
This marketing relationship has already led to a recent successful project in which Dredge Central restored an IMS 5012 dredge that had been sunk by vandalism. The company also counts among its clientele Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company and 3D Construction.
