Mike Hooks Wins $36.5 Million Calcasieu Dredging Contract
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ New Orleans District has awarded Mike Hooks LLC, Westlake, La., a $36.49 million contract for maintenance dredging of a 12-mile section of the Calcasieu River Ship Channel in southwest Louisiana.
The contract covers fiscal year 2026 maintenance dredging from Mile 5.0 to Mile 17.0 of the Calcasieu River and Pass project, along with beneficial use of dredged material in marsh creation areas in Calcasieu and Cameron parishes. The award was made September 29 and posted September 30.
Under the contract, Mike Hooks will remove material from the ship channel and place it in designated marsh creation areas within the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge and areas adjacent to the Calcasieu River and Pass. The work is part of the Sabine Cycle 6 marsh creation effort under the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act, or CWPPRA.
The contract also includes construction of retention dikes, surveys and other work associated with placement of the dredged material. Removal of material from Devil’s Elbow is included as optional work, along with optional ditching and draining of disposal areas. The Corps estimated a 300-calendar-day completion period for the base work following issuance of a notice to proceed.
Mike Hooks submitted the lowest of six bids received for the project. Its $36,492,037 bid was followed by Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company LLC at $40,978,761 and Orion Marine Construction Inc. at $44,258,131.
Inland Dredging Company LLC submitted a bid of $59,374,881, Callan Marine Ltd. bid $69,125,100 and Weeks Marine Inc. submitted a bid of $85,187,000. Bids were opened September 18. The solicitation was unrestricted and carried an estimated construction magnitude of between $25 million and $100 million.
The project was solicited under W912P8-26-B-A023. The resulting award to Mike Hooks is contract W912P8-26-C-A058.
The Calcasieu River Ship Channel provides deep-draft access between the Gulf of Mexico and the Lake Charles-area industrial complex. Maintenance dredging is required to keep the authorized navigation channel available to commercial traffic, while the beneficial-use portion of the project puts material removed from the channel to use in coastal marsh construction rather than relying solely on traditional disposal areas.
