Dredging Presence Grows at IMX

The Inland Marine Expo (IMX) held from May 10 to May 12 at the America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis drew many attendees and exhibitors its largest show to date. As the conference grows so has the presence from dredging industry companies focused on the inland waterways. The 2017 IMX will be held at the Dome in the America’s Center from May 22 to 24.

Mark Binsfield and Angela Callaway at the J.F. Bren-nan Co. booth.

Some of the dredging-related exhibitors in attendance included Newt Marine Service a marine construction contractor including dredging habitat restoration piling dry docking and ship repair and more (see the story on page 8); Damen Shipyards which builds many types of vessels in addition to dredges including tugs workboats patrol vessels cargo vessels ferries and more (see story on page 46); Grab Special-st manufactures clamshell buckets for dredging dry bulk cargo and recycling industries; WPT Power Corp. a manufacturer of heavy-duty power transmission products; and SENNEBOGEN LLC who is focused in the material handing industry and designs several barge-mounted cranes for dredging.

Many companies had dredging projects in the works. Jacob Naquin and Lynn Thibodeaux account representatives with Conrad Shipyard said the company has two dredge builds in progress one for Weeks Marine and another for Mike Hooks Inc. Those at the Anvil Attachments booth were also very excited about a new product which could not be released just yet but was scheduled to make its debut in June at the WODCON XXI World Dredging Congress & Exhibition in Miami. Eastern Shipbuilding is also building two dredges. Eastern Shipbuilding signed a contract with Weeks Marine for an 85500-cubic=yard trailign suction hopper dredge on March 27 2015. The dredge is expected to be delivered in 2017. Eastern Ship-building began work on the Great Lakes dredge in September 2014. It will be completed in 2017.

Cash McCloy sales Custom Dredge Works Inc.

Cash McCloy manned the Custom Dredge Works (CDW) booth. The company’s core dredging business is building custom semi-portable cutter suction dredges worldwide and is looking to gain a stronger presence in the inland U.S. market.

IDR spoke with CDW President Jon Jones after the conference about dredge build trends. For the mining industry Jones said CDW is continually building longer and deeper digging dredges. “Within the last year we’ve built four dredges with over 100-foot ladders. That’s been a good niche that we’ve been in” Jones said. The main dredging market he said goes for CDW’s more standard models with a faster delivery.

Custom Dredge Works delivered this 14-inch cutter suction dredge with a 95-foot ladder to a sand producer company in Kansas. The dredge was delivered in July 2015.  The trend for larger ladders and longer and deeper digging dredges for the mining industry has pushed CDW into new territory.

“We’re also seeing a big of a trend toward electric power vs. diesel” McCloy said. “It’s something we’re pretty proud of and I feel like we’re setting the pace there.” CDW has delivered several electric-powered dredges to clients recently.

CDW also recently built its second dredge that operates on natural gas for a project in Ohio. The dredge has a 90-foot ladder and under-water pump.