Callan Marine awarded $97.9m dredging contract for Corpus Christi

The project increases the channel depth from -47 feet Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) to -54 ft MLLW, and widens the channel to 530 feet with an additional 400 feet of barge shelves.

This second contract award follows the completion of Contract 1, which Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, LLC. (GLDD) completed on time in March 2020, deepening and widening the CCSC from the Gulf of Mexico to Harbor Island.

Contract 2 will deepen and widen the Corpus Christi Ship Channel from Harbor Island to 2.7 miles past the LA Quinta Junction and includes Ingleside where three large crude export marine terminal operators – Buckeye Partners, Moda Midstream, and Flint Hills Resources – will directly benefit.

“This contract is vital for us to continue the deepening and widening of the existing Corpus Christi Ship Channel. The work will improve energy product transportation throughout at the Port of Corpus Christi by allowing larger vessels more efficient access, which will boost the economic competitive advantage and energy security of the United States for decades to come,” said Colonel Timothy Vail, USACE Galveston District Commander.

Port of Corpus Christi deepening Ship Channel has been a landmark project for the past 30 years.

In February, the Administration released its proposed fiscal year 2021 President’s Budget, which included over $100m in the USACE Civil Works Division for Coastal Navigation Construction for the project. To date the Corpus Christi Ship Channel Improvement Project has already received nearly $150Mmin federal appropriations, and the Port of Corpus Christi has accelerated an additional $150m of its own cost share portion capital to progress the project.

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“As the largest export gateway for US. produced energy destined for global demand markets, a deeper and wider ship channel will solidify the competitiveness of American energy on the world stage,” said Sean Strawbridge, Port of Corpus Christi ceo.

Estimated completion for this phase of the Corpus Christi Ship Channel Improvement Project is early 2022, with improvements to Ingleside by fourth quarter of 2021.