Demanding Times for a Dynamic Dredge Builder
The New Year typically brings new challenges to all?sectors of the waterfront and 2018 will be no different. As the newly expanded and improved Panama?and Suez Canals bring larger, so-called post-Panamax vessels to U.S. shores, stakeholders tend to focus on domestic?dredging needs. And, there’s plenty of that to go around. At?the same time, global infrastructure requirements are also?growing. Developing and first world countries alike all need?waterfront improvements to support industry, growing?populations and the trade that these metrics always bring.?Closer to home, it was Chairman Garret Graves (R-LA)?at a January 18th Subcommittee on Water Resources and?Environment hearing who recently said it best. “Much of?our nation’s success, and future successes, are dependent?on our ports and waterways system ... Our ports, through?which 99 percent of overseas trade passes, struggle to?maintain their navigation channels at their fully authorized depths, let alone a depth to allow for even bigger?ships that are increasingly the global norm.”