Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company

Last updated

Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company
Company type Public
Nasdaq:  GLDD
Russell 2000 Component
IndustryHeavy Construction Contractor
Founded1890;134 years ago (1890)
Headquarters,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Services Dredging, Land reclamation, Demolition
RevenueIncrease2.svg$731.41 million USD (2013)
Increase2.svg$51.4 million USD (2013)
Increase2.svg$19.9 million USD (2013) [1]
Website www.gldd.com

Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company is an American company providing construction services in dredging and land reclamation, currently the largest such provider in the United States. GLD&D operates primarily in the United States but conducts one-quarter of its business overseas. The company was based in Oak Brook, Illinois, but in October 2020 relocated its corporate headquarters to Houston, Texas. [2]

Contents

History

US Vice President Joe Biden aboard Dredge 54 on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, 2014 Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company (2014).jpg
US Vice President Joe Biden aboard Dredge 54 on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, 2014

The company was founded in 1890 as the partnership of William A. Lydon & Fred C. Drews and was named Lydon & Drews dredging company. Early projects included the shoreline structures for the Chicago's Columbian Exposition. The company soon had satellite operations throughout the Great Lakes. It was renamed the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company (GLD&D) in 1905. Between 1900 and 1950, GLD&D undertook major projects such as the Sabin Lock, straightening of the Chicago River west of the Chicago Loop, the Michigan Avenue Bridge, foundation landfill and reclamation of the area where the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Soldier Field, Meigs Field and Field Museum of Natural History stand today in Chicago and harbor work for the Naval Station Great Lakes. [4]

During the Second World War, GLD&D constructed the MacArthur Lock. After the Second World War, GLD&D participated in extensive oil-related dredging in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1979, Great Lakes International Inc. (GLI) was included as a holding company for GLD&D. From 1985 to 1998, GLI was acquired by several companies to include ITEL Corporation, Blackstone Dredging Partners and Vectura Holding Company (Citigroup) until being purchased by Madison Dearborn Partners in 2003 for $340 million. [4] [5] It was spun off a publicly traded company on NASDAQ in 2006 after the Madison's special-purpose acquisition company Aldabra Acquisition Corp merged with it. Aldabra in turn changed its name to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock. [6] Madison sold the last of its shares in 2009. [5]

Operations

Great Lakes Dredge and Dock conducts most of its operations within the United States and 25% of its operations abroad, particularly in the Middle East. GLD&D dredging operations consist of deepening and maintaining waterways, shipping channels, and ports; creating and maintaining (re-nourishing) beaches; excavating new harbors; reclaiming land in the water or improving low-lying land areas; restoring aquatic and wetland habitats and excavating pipeline, cable and tunnel trenches. [4]

In 1990, GLD&D renewed its overseas efforts and created a foreign division. By 1993, GLD&D was awarded significant projects in the Middle East. Soon projects in Europe, Africa, Mexico and South America would begin as well. GLD&D also provided excavation and reclamation for the Oresund Bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden. [4]

In 2003, GLD&D performed dredging of the Umm Qasr Port in Iraq. GLD&D also constructed a port in Hidd, Bahrain around the same time. [4]

In June 2010, GLD&D under the Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure Group began constructing sand berms off the Louisiana coast to limit the amount of approaching oil in the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. [7]

In December 2014, the company was hired to build dunes and berms along 22 miles of the Jersey Shore that had been damaged by Hurricane Sandy. [8] Funding for the $185 million project was provided through the Super Storm Sandy Supplements Appropriations Bill. [8] [9]

1992 Chicago flood

In 1992, a barge operated by GLD&D was driving new pilings for the Kinzie Street Bridge in Chicago when it accidentally punched into an unused service tunnel passing beneath the river at that point. The tunnel flooded, in turn flooding the basements of many buildings in downtown Chicago; the event is commonly known as the Chicago Flood. Work on the bridge was actually completed the prior year October, 1991. In February 1992 local cable company technicians discovered the breach and reported it to city officials. GLD&D was never made aware of the breach until April 1992 after severe leakage into the tunnel system had begun.

The work performed on the Kinzie Street Bridge conformed to specifications and did pass City inspection upon completion in 1991.

In the lawsuits that followed Great Lakes was initially found liable but was later cleared after it was revealed that the city was aware the tunnel was leaking before the flood and the city had also not properly maintained the tunnel. [10] [11]

In addition the case went the United States Supreme Court in Jerome B. Grubart, Inc. v. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., 513 U.S. 527 (1995) which ruled that since the work was being done by a vessel in navigable waters of the Chicago River, Admiralty law applied and Great Lakes liability was greatly limited. [12]

2008 Liberian tanker collision

In January 2008, GLD&D's 117-foot mechanical dredge 'New York' was struck by a 669-ft Liberian-flagged orange juice tank vessel named the Orange Sun in Newark Bay. Newark Bay had to be closed for five hours by the U.S. Coast Guard until damages to the GLD&D dredge were mitigated. The dredge had begun to take on water and a diving crew was sent in order to make repairs. [13] In December 2009, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a report that blamed the Orange Sun for the accident. The Orange Sun's master had not informed the captain or crew about the ship's tendency to deviate from its course. [14]

2016 Bay Long Oil Spill

On September 5, 2016, a marsh excavator operated by GLD&D tracked over pipeline while performing restoration activities in Bay Long, an active restoration site for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, discharging approximately 5,300 gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico and oiling about 200 birds. [15] [16]

After the spill, separate criminal cases were brought against GLD&D and the subcontractor that physically caused the spill for violations of the Clean Water Act. The subcontractor pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act on March 18, 2021 in the case brought against him. GLD&D also pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act in the case brought against it and, on June 14, 2022, was sentenced and ordered to pay a $1 million fine. [15] [17] [16]

2022 Dredging 'Misdump' in the Gulf of Maine

On November 13, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it reached a settlement with GLD&D for violations of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (commonly known as the Ocean Dumping Act) relating to dredging GLD&D was hired to do for the Portsmouth Harbor Federal Navigation Project under authorizations issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. [18] The EPA alleged that dredged material was dumped outside the authorized disposal site specified in the project's dredged material permit, located in the Gulf of Maine near Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire. [18] Under the terms of the settlement, GLD&D agreed to pay a penalty of $92,500 and undertake mitigation projects that are estimated to cost more than $100,000 and are designed to prevent future "misdumps." [18]

Related Research Articles

The Chicago flood occurred on April 13, 1992, when repair work on a bridge spanning the Chicago River damaged the wall of an abandoned and disused utility tunnel beneath the river. The resulting breach flooded basements, facilities and the underground Chicago Pedway throughout the Chicago Loop with an estimated 250 million US gallons (1,000,000 m3) of water. The remediation lasted for weeks, and cost about $2 billion in 1992 dollars, equivalent to $4.34 billion in 2023. The legal battles lasted for several years, and disagreement over who was at fault persists to this day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newark Bay</span> Estuary in northeastern New Jersey, US

Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, the second busiest in the United States. An estuary, it is periodically dredged to accommodate seafaring ships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berm</span> Raised bank of land or barrier

A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier separating areas in a vertical way, especially partway up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a border/separation barrier for navigation, good drainage, industry, or other purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bayou</span> Body of water in flat, low-lying areas

In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river, marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They typically contain brackish water highly conducive to fish life and plankton. Bayous are commonly found in the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States, especially in the Mississippi River Delta, though they also exist elsewhere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bayou Lafourche</span> River in Louisiana, United States

Bayou Lafourche, originally called Chetimachas River or La Fourche des Chetimaches,, is a 106-mile-long (171 km) bayou in southeastern Louisiana, United States, that flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The bayou is flanked by Louisiana Highway 1 on the west and Louisiana Highway 308 on the east, and is known as "the longest Main Street in the world." It flows through parts of Ascension, Assumption, and Lafourche parishes. Today, approximately 300,000 Louisiana residents drink water drawn from the bayou.

Enbridge Inc. is a multinational pipeline and energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Enbridge owns and operates pipelines throughout Canada and the United States, transporting crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids, and also generates renewable energy. Enbridge's pipeline system is the longest in North America and the largest oil export pipeline network in the world. Its crude oil system consists of 28,661 kilometres of pipelines. Its 38,300 kilometre natural gas pipeline system connects multiple Canadian provinces, several US states, and the Gulf of Mexico. The company was formed by Imperial Oil in 1949 as the Interprovincial Pipe Line Company Limited to transport Alberta oil to refineries. Over time, it has grown through acquisition of other existing pipeline companies and the expansion of their projects.

The Enbridge Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system which transports crude oil and dilbit from Canada to the United States. The system exceeds 5,000 kilometres (3,100 mi) in length including multiple paths. More than 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) of the system is in the United States while the rest is in Canada and serves the Athabasca oil sands production facilities. Main parts of the system are 2,306-kilometre-long (1,433 mi) Canadian Mainline and 3,057-kilometre-long (1,900 mi) Lakehead System. On average, it delivers 1.4 million barrels per day of crude oil and other products to the major oil refineries in the American Midwest and the Canadian province of Ontario. The Canadian portion is owned by Enbridge, while the U.S. portion is partly owned by that company through Enbridge Energy Partners, LP, formerly known as Lakehead Pipe Line Partners and Lakehead Pipe Line Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mississippi River Delta</span> Delta of the Mississippi River

The Mississippi River Delta is the confluence of the Mississippi River with the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana, southeastern United States. The river delta is a three-million-acre area of land that stretches from Vermilion Bay on the west, to the Chandeleur Islands in the east, on Louisiana's southeastern coast. It is part of the Gulf of Mexico and the Louisiana coastal plain, one of the largest areas of coastal wetlands in the United States. The Mississippi River Delta is the 7th largest river delta on Earth (USGS) and is an important coastal region for the United States, containing more than 2.7 million acres of coastal wetlands and 37% of the estuarine marsh in the conterminous U.S. The coastal area is the nation's largest drainage basin and drains about 41% of the contiguous United States into the Gulf of Mexico at an average rate of 470,000 cubic feet per second.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wetlands of Louisiana</span>

The wetlands of Louisiana are water-saturated coastal and swamp regions of southern Louisiana, often called "Bayou".

The Water Resources Development Act of 1999, Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law  106–53 (text)(PDF), was enacted by Congress of the United States on August 17, 1999. Most of the provisions of WRDA 1999 are administered by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act</span>

The Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) is a 1990 United States federal law that provides funds for wetland enhancement. The law is implemented by federal and state agencies, focusing on restoration of lost wetlands of the Gulf Coast, as well as protecting the wetlands from future deterioration. The scope of the mission is not simply for the restoration of wetlands in Louisiana, but also the research and implementation of preventative measures for wetlands preservation

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greka Energy</span>

Greka Energy, legally HVI Cat Canyon Inc., is a privately held company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration principally in Santa Barbara County, California. Formed in 1999 after the acquisition and merger of several smaller firms, it is a subsidiary of Greka Integrated, Inc., a holding company headquartered in Santa Maria, California, and is wholly owned by Randeep Grewal.

<i>Deepwater Horizon</i> oil spill Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was an environmental disaster which began on 20 April 2010, off the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considered the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry and estimated to be 8 to 31 percent larger in volume than the previous largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill, also in the Gulf of Mexico. Caused in the aftermath of a blowout and explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, the United States federal government estimated the total discharge at 4.9 MMbbl. After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on 19 September 2010. Reports in early 2012 indicated that the well site was still leaking. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is regarded as one of the largest environmental disasters in world history.

Timeline of the <i>Deepwater Horizon</i> oil spill Events around the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico

The following is a timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It was a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest offshore spill in U.S. history. It was a result of the well blowout that began with the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion on April 20, 2010.

Following is a timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill for June 2010.

Following is a Timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill for May 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalamazoo River oil spill</span> 2010 oil spill in Calhoun County, Michigan, US

The Kalamazoo River oil spill occurred in July 2010 when a pipeline operated by Enbridge burst and flowed into Talmadge Creek, a tributary of the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Michigan. A 6-foot (1.8 m) break in the pipeline resulted in one of the largest inland oil spills in U.S. history. The pipeline carries diluted bitumen (dilbit), a heavy crude oil from Canada's Athabasca oil sands to the United States. Cleanup took five years. Following the spill, the volatile hydrocarbon diluents evaporated, leaving the heavier bitumen to sink in the water column. Thirty-five miles (56 km) of the Kalamazoo River were closed for clean-up until June 2012, when portions of the river were re-opened. On March 14, 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered Enbridge to return to dredge portions of the river to remove submerged oil and oil-contaminated sediment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water pollution in the United States</span> Overview of water pollution in the United States of America

Water pollution in the United States is a growing problem that became critical in the 19th century with the development of mechanized agriculture, mining, and industry, although laws and regulations introduced in the late 20th century have improved water quality in many water bodies. Extensive industrialization and rapid urban growth exacerbated water pollution as a lack of regulation allowed for discharges of sewage, toxic chemicals, nutrients and other pollutants into surface water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breton Island (Louisiana)</span>

Breton Island is an island in the Gulf of Mexico near the mouth of the Mississippi River and part of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. It is part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge, which was established in 1904.

<i>Deepwater Horizon</i> oil spill response Containment and cleanup efforts

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred between 10 April and 19 September 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. A variety of techniques were used to address fundamental strategies for addressing the spilled oil, which were: to contain oil on the surface, dispersal, and removal. While most of the oil drilled off Louisiana is a lighter crude, the leaking oil was of a heavier blend which contained asphalt-like substances. According to Ed Overton, who heads a federal chemical hazard assessment team for oil spills, this type of oil emulsifies well. Once it becomes emulsified, it no longer evaporates as quickly as regular oil, does not rinse off as easily, cannot be broken down by microbes as easily, and does not burn as well. "That type of mixture essentially removes all the best oil clean-up weapons", Overton said.

References

  1. "Great Lakes Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-End Financial Results". Great Lakes Dredge and Dock. 25 February 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  2. "Great Lakes Dredge & Dock moves to Houston". bicmagazine.com. 2 November 2020. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  3. "Vice President Tours Delaware River Project". Dredgingtoday.com. 17 October 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "GLDD History". Archived from the original on 4 December 2009. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
  5. 1 2 "Madison Dearborn cashing out of Great Lakes Dredge". 12 August 2009.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 May 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation Begins Work on First Sand Berm off the Louisiana Coast
  8. 1 2 Augenstein, Seth (17 December 2014). "$186M to build dunes, berms on 22 miles of Jersey Shore". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  9. "Award of Two NJ Coastal Projects & The Arthur Kill Channel Deepening Project" (Press release). Oak Brook, Illinois: Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  10. "History of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company – FundingUniverse".
  11. "Great Lakes' IPO dredges up past attempt - Chicago Tribune". Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on 19 July 2011.
  12. "Jerome B. Grubart, Inc. V. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., 513 U.S. 527 (1995)".
  13. Belson, Ken (25 January 2008). "Accident Closes Major Shipping Channel for Hours". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  14. Federal report blames ship carrying orange juice for Newark Bay collision last year
  15. 1 2 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Response and Restoration. "Bay Long Oil Spill in Louisiana" . Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  16. 1 2 "Dredging company to pay $1M for restoration work oil spill". New Orleans, Louisiana: AP News. 22 June 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  17. "Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company Fined $1 Million For Causing Oil Spill" (Press release). Eastern District of Louisiana: U.S. Department of Justice. 17 June 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  18. 1 2 3 "EPA takes action for noncompliance with Ocean Dumping Act" (Press release). Boston, Massachusetts: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 13 November 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.