J.E. McAmis Acquires Site for New Marine Facility

The McAmis derrick barge Heidi-Renee installing a Lamprey flume at Bonneville Dam.

J.E. McAmis has acquired a new 122-acre West Coast Marine facility in Cowlitz County Washington on the Mouth of the Old Cowlitz River at Columbia River mile 68. It is anticipated that J.E. McAmis will complete a full relocation of its Northwest field operations to the new facility by the fourth quarter of 2015.

Established in 1973 J.E. McAmis is a heavycivil marine dredging and environmental contracting firm that has performed work for public and private clients throughout the United States. Since 1985 J.E. McAmis has maintained continuous operations in the Pacific Northwest performing capital and maintenance dredging projects environmental restoration projects and maintenance and repair projects to a number of Columbia River basin dams spillways and port facilities.

A diver on the deck of J.E. McAmis’s dipper dredge Megan-Renee in Cook Inlet Alaska. The contract was to precision-dig a 2000-foot trench from the Osprey offshore platform to the terminal for an eight-inch gas line which remained live as the dredge dug through boulders and glacial till. Hardhat divers located the pipeline and moved it into the trench. The project took about 30 days.

“We have been serving the Pacific Northwest out of Astoria Oregon for more than 30 years and have very much been a part of the community in Astoria. As our business has expanded over the past several years we have worked very hard at trying to secure a permanent home there. However no agreement could be reached at the Port of Astoria so we began the search for a new facility elsewhere” said John E. McAmis founder and president of J.E. McAmis Inc.

“Moving forward we are extremely excited to become a permanent part of the maritime community in Cowlitz County. Our new location provides us a much more centralized facility on the river which will not only serve our own business well but also will serve the business of  ports and private industry throughout the Columbia-Snake River Basin well” he said.

While the company’s Pacific Northwest operations continue to focus on supporting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the West Coast throughout the Columbia-Snake River Basin and into Alaska McAmis says that is “anxious to continue expansion of the company’s private market customer base on the Columbia River.”

At Peanut Island near West Palm Beach Florida McAmis installs bridge bents for a pedestrian bridge over what is now open water in the finished project. Along the shore is a pile crib breakwater structure the company installed for another pedestrian bridge. The project is adjacent to the old Coast Guard Station the site of the bunker where President John F. Kennedy stayed during the Cuban missile crisis.

In the past year J.E. McAmis Pacific Northwest crews have completed both public and private work at more than a dozen project sites throughout Oregon Washington and Idaho. This work has all been marine based and has included dredging dam rehabilitation heavy/high-lift services dive supported construction and environmental restoration.

J.E. McAmis is mobilizing to complete the Mouth of the Columbia River North Jetty Critical Repairs Project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The project serves as a kick-off to a $300 million jetty rehabilitation program which J.E. McAmis has been preparing for by acquiring new cranes barges support equipment. J.E. McAmis believes that equipment investments coupled with the highway railroad and barge access provided by the new Cowlitz County facility will provide advantages to securing additional jetty projects in the region.