The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Philadelphia District has awarded a contract to Norfolk Dredging Company of Chesapeake, Virginia, for US$13.5 million for dredging the Delaware River main channel.
Work will involve dredging approximately 1,223,000 cubic metres of sediment from portions of the Marcus Hook and New Castle Ranges of the Delaware River main shipping channel.
Work is expected to begin in December and be completed in the winter of 2019.
Approximately 994,000 cubic metres of material will be dredged from the channel as part of routine maintenance dredging and another 229,000 cubic metres of material will be dredged from the Marcus Hook anchorage as part of the Delaware River Main Channel Deepening project. The USACE is deepening the main channel from 12.19 to 13.71 metres to provide for more efficient transportation of containerised, dry, and liquid bulk, breakbulk, Ro-Ro, and project cargoes to and from the Delaware River ports.
The deepening project is expected to be complete in 2019 and is a joint effort between the USACE and PhilaPort.