U.S. Dredging Market

One-on-One with Bill Doyle, CEO, DCA

U.S. Dredging’s Bull Run Should Continue Under Trump Administration

The U.S. dredging industry back, with more than $3B invested in a fleet of new vessels with new capabilities currently under construction and an incoming Trump Administration that shares many of the same philosophies: pro-business, pro-industry and pro-America. A long list of major port deepening projects, in step with routine maintenance dredging and the provision of new buffers against larger, more frequent storms, promises to keep this U.S.-built, U.S.-crewed industry gainfully employed for years to come. Bill Doyle, CEO of Dredging Contractors of America (DCA), updates Maritime Reporter & Engineering News with insights on what’s to come in 2025.

By Greg Trauthwein

Image courtesy DCA
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In the midst of 2022, the U.S. dredging business was in a COVID-induced tailspin premised in part on the Army Corps of Engineer’s inability to get the normal load of jobs out to private industry, a situation that lasted into the start of 2023.

“The rebound started in May of 2023 and has run all the way through 2024,” said Bill Doyle, CEO, DCA, a rebound driven by government work as well as energy companies that privately own their terminals and docks “and wanted to attach it to a federal channel.”

By all accounts, it appears the good times in U.S. dredging are poised to continue, driven by major ports demands to deepen navigation channels (most notably in New York/New Jersey, which recently unveiled its 50-year plan; as well as the Port of Wilmington; Port of Corpus Christie; Port of Baltimore and Louisiana, too) to handle increasingly large ships, as well as the never-ending balance of maintenance dredging in the name of safe navigation. Last but certainly not least, the coastal restoration and beach nourishment that is helping to fortify the security of some of the country’s largest cities in the face of rising tides.

Bill Doyle
U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Dana Clarke
With President Trump coming in, we're excited: He's pro-business, he's pro-industrial, he's pro-Build American. If you look at [U.S.] dredging and the Jones Act industry; it’s American-owned, American-built, with American citizens onboard those ships. So we fit right into what [President Trump is] trying to do.” - Bill Doyle, CEO, DCA, on the incoming Trump Administration

The Fleet

When ‘innovative, emission-efficient maritime tonnage’ is the topic, dredgers more than likely are not an industry executive’s first thought. If true, that’s all changing now, as the industry cumulatively has delivered and continues to order high-tech, low-emission dredgers of all varieties to join the fleet.

“We’re always seeing the dredge industry improve and innovate – that’s part of the competition between the this heavily saturated market in the United States,” says Doyle, adding, “A relatively new entrant, Curtin Maritime, has really taken off in the clamshell market over the past five years.”

Martin Curtin, the founder of Curtin Maritime, literally came up from the deck plates, working on tugboats, then owning them, then expanding to the point of building and repairing his own. Along the way, Curtin has taken clamshell dredges to the next level, as shown by the clamshell dredge DB Avalon built in 2022: a hybrid-powered dredge vessel and is considered the lowest carbon footprint clamshell dredge of its class, outfitted with energy-efficient Tier 4 QSK60 Cummins generators. Avalon’s hybrid power source allows for generators two-thirds the size of a conventional dredge vessel, reducing CO2 emissions by 30%, using a proven Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCT) technology with a flow-through exhaust after-treatment system, using diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), to deliver ultra-low emissions.

In addition, four banks of 20 battery modules each, are controlled by the latest software that optimizes charge and discharge cycles by harnessing regenerative power from normal digging operations and re-charging the batteries, further reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The DB Avalon has taken on multiple dredging projects in the Houston Ship Channel, San Juan Harbor in Puerto Rico and is now working in the Chesapeake Bay on the Baltimore approach channels.

Image courtesy Curtin Maritime

Looking at the industry wholistically, the U.S. dredging industry is in the midst of a $3 billion recapitalization with a focus on enhancing the capacity and efficiency of the fleet to meet the growing demands of federal and private sector projects.

“I think the order level is appropriate,” said Doyle, noting that “I'm the guy that has to manage competitors! DCA is an organization of companies that fiercely compete with each other.” More modern, cable dredgers on the market mean more competition, so this small fraternity of tight knit yet competitive forces must keep an eye on the overall ball to ensure the balance between dredgers working and dredgers under construction maintain some sort of balance, regardless if it’s a cutterhead suction dredge, a hopper dredge or a clamshell dredge.

“What we're going to see somewhere in the first or second quarter is the largest hopper dredge ever built in the United States. It's coming online,” said Doyle. “That's the Frederick Paup by Manson Construction being built down in Brownsville, Texas. They're going through the dock trials right now, and it's a beautiful ship, a 15,000-cu. yd. vessel that will be able to do some beach work like you've never seen before.”

Chart courtesy DCA

Political Will

As of this writing, January 20, 2025 – the U.S. Inauguration Day – was drawing closer, with President Donald Trump’s administration set to re-enter the White House. Politics and political will have a direct impact on many if not all industries, and dredging is no exception.

“We're excited about the Trump administration coming in,” said Doyle. “All of my dredgers, all of them, see this as: ‘we've got a president coming in that is not anti-Jones Act, plus he has made statements that he wants a robust shipbuilding industry.”

In addition, the Trump Administration will be aided by a Republican Congress.

“You've got Mike Johnson (R-LA) as the Speaker of the House, and that’s huge. The folks in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas live and die by dredging. They need dredging. They understand dredging. They understand the shipbuilding industry. So it's a big help for us to know what's coming, to know we're going to be supported.”

Doyle said the industry, in turn, must uphold its end of the bargain and maintain an efficient, effective and competitive industry, noting that last year alone the Army Corps of Engineers awarded contracts to 56 different companies, helping to keep prices lower and competition high.

“With President Trump coming in, we're excited,” said Doyle. “We know that we have to do our work with him to keep our issues at the forefront and to show the positive story of dredging and the Jones Act. He's pro-business, he's pro-industrial, he's pro-Build American. If you look at [U.S.] dredging and the Jones Act industry, it’s American-owned, American-built, with American citizens onboard those ships. So we fit right into what [President Trump is] trying to do.”

Watch the full interview with Bill Doyle, CEO, Dredging Contractors of America, on Maritime Reporter TV, including his insights on:

  • European efforts to break through the Jones Act dredging market; and

  • The impact of larger, more powerful and destructive storms on the dredging industry.

Marine Technology Magazine
January 2025