GALVESTON, Texas (June 15, 2016) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District awarded a contract in the amount of $7,696,600 to Orion Marine Construction Inc., for dredging of additional reaches of the Matagorda Ship Channel in Matagorda and Calhoun counties, Texas.
The contractor is required to remove approximately 3.6 million cubic yards of dredged material from the Matagorda Ship Channel (from Matagorda Peninsula to Point Comfort) and the intersection of the Matagorda Ship Channel and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) beginning June 2016 with an estimated completion date of November 2016.
“Maintenance dredging is required annually to provide adequate channel availability for ships navigating the Matagorda Ship Channel,” said Aron Edwards, an operations manager in the USACE Galveston District’s Navigation Branch. “All dredged material from the Matagorda Ship Channel will be placed in open-water, unconfined placement areas while the material from the intersection of the Matagorda Ship Channel and the GIWW will be used beneficially to nourish Sundown Island, a bird rookery island.”
According to Edwards, the contract will allow for the removal of approximately three million cubic yards of material from Matagorda Peninsula to Point Comfort and 629,000 cubic yards of material from the intersection of the Matagorda Ship Channel and the GIWW.
The Matagorda Ship Channel was constructed in the 1960s to allow deep-draft vessels to travel between the Gulf of Mexico and Matagorda and Lavaca Bays. The channel is part of Port of Port Lavaca – Point Comfort, a major sea port in the state and nation, and carries approximately 11.6 million tons of commerce annually.
The USACE Galveston District was established in 1880 as the first engineer district in Texas to oversee river and harbor improvements. The district is directly responsible for maintaining more than 1,000 miles of channel, including 250 miles of deep draft and 750 miles of shallow draft as well as the Colorado River Locks and Brazos River Floodgates.
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