DREDGING HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PAST

35 YEARS AGO –1978
A project to deepen 35 miles of channel in Tampa Bay was underway. Planned in seven sections the overall project provided a channel depth of 43 feet and involved the excavation and placement of approximately 73 million cubic yards of material.

30 YEARS AGO – 1983
Manson Construction Company began building a new 4000-cubic-yard split hull trailing suction hopper dredge “provisionally” named Newport.

Dredging Consultant John Huston of Corpus Christi Texas addressed the National Sand and Gravel Association Convention in Phoenix advising that every sand and gravel dredge should have two essential pieces of equipment – a Hofer valve to prevent clogging of the pipe and a vacuum and pressure recorder to monitor the efficiency of the dredge operator.

20 YEARS AGO – 1993
Weeks Marine Inc. purchased all the dredging assets of American Dredging Company.

Brand Marine Services Inc. of Connecticut purchased four Series 370 Dragon dredges from Ellicott Machine Corporation to fulfill its contract to dredge waterways in the Philippines that filled with volcanic material after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991.

10 YEARS AGO – 2003
Steel Processors Inc. of Theodore Alabama acquired Mobile Pulley & Machine Works. Metso Minerals then purchased the Mobile Pulley small pump product lines and the Florida cutter line from Steel Processors.

The Corps of Engineers stipulated that the Dredging Contractors of America Dredging Safety Management Program (DSMP) must be accepted as the operating safety program on a government dredging contract.

5 YEARS AGO – 2008
The tanker Orange Sun ran into the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock excavator dredge New York north of Shooters Island in Newark Bay. The New York was saved from sinking by a bent spud which prevented the hull from sliding down the spuds after it filled with water. The New York was stabilized by Randive who plugged a 17-foot-long crescent-shaped gash in its side.