A $28.46 million federal contract will fund maintenance dredging at the ports of Savannah and Brunswick in Georgia and Wilmington Harbor in North Carolina.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Wilmington District awarded the fiscal 2027 South Atlantic Division contract to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. Sept. 15. Federal contract records show three companies submitted bids for the firm-fixed-price work.
Crews will remove and dispose of sediment accumulating in shipping channels and turning basins. WECT reported the work will maintain authorized depths so large commercial ships can enter and leave safely. The contract uses civil works funding from fiscal years 2024 through 2026 and has a total potential value of $29.93 million.
The Georgia sites serve two distinct trade sectors. The Port of Savannah handled nearly 5.7 million twenty-foot-equivalent container units in 2025 and offers 39 weekly container services. The Port of Brunswick is the nation’s largest automotive port and busiest roll-on/roll-off gateway, with three deepwater berths and a fourth under construction.
Maintenance dredging restores existing authorized depths after tides and currents deposit sand and silt; it is not the same as a harbor expansion. The Corps has grouped work at multiple South Atlantic harbors since fiscal 2018 to reduce competition for a limited number of ocean-certified dredges and improve efficiency.
The award notice did not specify how much will be spent at each harbor, how many cubic yards will be removed or when work will begin at each location. Completion is estimated by April 15, 2027.
For Georgia, the work supports reliable access at two ports central to containerized trade, automobile exports and the state’s logistics network.
