en.Wedoany.com Reported - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a contract worth nearly $31 million to Boland Marine & Industrial of New Orleans for the repair of its trailing suction hopper dredge "Wheeler," which is part of the Corps' Dredge Reserve Fleet.
The fixed-price contract was announced on June 26, with two bids received. The Corps' New Orleans District is the contracting party. According to the contract announcement, Boland Marine & Industrial's scope of work includes inspection, maintenance, and repair of the Wheeler's hull, steel structure, dredging equipment, propulsion system, and auxiliary systems.
Matt Roe, a public affairs specialist for the New Orleans District, stated that this new five-year contract will ensure the Wheeler dredge maintains full operational capability to fulfill its role in keeping the Mississippi River navigation channel clear. He noted that by maintaining the deep-draft channel of the Southwest Pass, the Wheeler plays a key role in connecting the U.S. heartland to the global economy, a route facilitated by river ports along southern Louisiana. Roe further said that by keeping deep-draft channels open for commercial, military, and emergency response traffic, the Wheeler directly supports the reliability of the marine transportation system and ensures the movement of goods through some of the nation's most economically vital waterways.
Roe explained that the Wheeler's operational area covers the region from Brownsville, Texas, to Key West, Florida, but it spends most of its time in its homeport of New Orleans maintaining the Southwest Pass, the primary channel for commercial shipping between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River. Both high-water and low-water conditions can cause shoaling in the Southwest Pass. As part of the Corps' broader dredge fleet, the Wheeler plays a unique readiness role, complementing private industry, dredging capacity, and other government-owned floating equipment.
The Wheeler was built at the historic Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans, launched in February 1981, and commissioned on September 17 of the same year. With a full capacity of 8,256 cubic yards of dredged material, it is the largest trailing suction hopper dredge in the Corps' fleet. Boland Marine & Industrial traces its history back to 1866, with its headquarters, machine shop, and fabrication shop located at 1000 Tchoupitoulas Street in downtown New Orleans, and its upper marine repair facility on the west bank of the Mississippi River, less than 10 miles from the headquarters.
In addition to the Wheeler, the Corps' reserve fleet includes the dredges "Essayons" and "Yaquina," both homeported on the West Coast, and the dredge "McFarland," assigned to the Philadelphia District. The Corps has contracted with Eastern Shipbuilding Group of Panama City, Florida, to build a replacement for the McFarland, which will be named the "Donnelly."
