Dravo Contracting Company News - The Waterways Journal

Radical New Design From Dravo A shipyard glamour shot at Dravo Neville Island, taken September 23, 1940. (Dravo photo from the author’s collection)

Radical New Design From Dravo

July 26, 2024

In late 1939, a brief announcement was made in The Waterways Journal and other publications that Dravo Contracting Company was working on designs for a towboat that would be much… Read More

Wm. Penn: The Rest of The Story The mv. Midland downbound on the Kanawha River August 6, 1971. (Photo by Jeff Yates)

Wm. Penn: The Rest of The Story

July 19, 2024

The Dravo Contracting Company was justifiably proud of the towboat Wm. Penn that the company had built for the Dravo subsidiary Union Barge Line (UBL) in 1940. In the September… Read More

Dravo And Carnegie Steel Try Prop Towboats Dravo steam prop towboat Peace. (David Smith collection)

Dravo And Carnegie Steel Try Prop Towboats

April 22, 2023

It can only be supposed that the attention generated by the success of the early Ward-built, prop-driven towboats commanded a lot of attention throughout the inland rivers. The Dravo Contracting… Read More

Venerable Dredges Still Proving Their Value Dredge Potter as built, with diagram of dustpan dredge. (Corps of Engineers photo)

Venerable Dredges Still Proving Their Value

October 31, 2022

The present low-water situation on the Upper and Lower Mississippi brings the importance of the large Corps of Engineers dredges to prominence. Those working the rivers and depending on the… Read More