Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Awarded $44.5 Million Fire Island Inlet Contract

The Houston-based dredging leader will maintain the Fire Island Inlet navigation channel and nourish a nearby beach under an Army Corps deal completing by March 11, 2027.

First Published: August 7, 2026, 1:24 PM ET

HOUSTON, TEXAS — Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLC, the largest provider of dredging services in the United States, received a $44.5 million Army contract to clear the Fire Island Inlet navigation channel and rebuild a nearby Long Island beach, as announced on war.gov.

The firm-fixed-price award carries a total cumulative face value of $46.3 million. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers obligated $44.5 million in fiscal 2025 civil construction funds at the time of the award. Work will run in Babylon, New York, with an estimated completion date of March 11, 2027. The Army Corps solicited bids over the internet and received three, according to war.gov.

The contract covers maintenance dredging of the federal navigation channel and deposition basin in Fire Island Inlet. Crews will place dredged material as beach nourishment along the feeder beach west of the inlet, according to war.gov.

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock owns and operates roughly 200 specialized vessels, the largest and most diverse fleet in the U.S. dredging industry, according to gldd.com. The company launched in 1890 and trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker GLDD, according to gldd.com. Its projects range from deepening ports to restoring beaches after storms.

Boaters, commercial fishermen and shoreline residents around Fire Island Inlet stand to benefit most. A maintained channel keeps vessels moving safely through a shifting sandbar, while beach nourishment shields coastal property from erosion and storm surge. The federal government carries the cost through civil works appropriations.

The award marks the third contract for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock in 2026, lifting the company’s total contract value for the year to $82.1 million, according to firestore:contracts. It ranks as the 70th Department of Defense contract awarded in Texas during 2026. The deal falls short of the company’s record award of $219.1 million.

For readers far from Long Island, the work reflects a routine federal effort to keep navigable waters open and coastlines intact. Such projects protect port commerce, recreation and the tax base of shoreline towns without direct cost to individual households.

This has happened before. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock has repeatedly performed coastal restoration on the East Coast. The firm built dunes and berms along 22 miles of the Jersey Shore after Hurricane Sandy, a $185 million project funded through the Super Storm Sandy supplemental appropriations bill, according to wikipedia.org. The company also completed shoreline work along Long Island in earlier campaigns, according to gldd.com.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, will oversee performance and any future modifications. A completion date of March 11, 2027, governs the current work, and no date for a follow-on decision has been announced.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock has shaped American shorelines for more than a century, as it has before. The company launched in 1890 as Lydon & Drews and took its present name in 1905, according to wikipedia.org. Early crews built the shoreline structures for Chicago’s Columbian Exposition and later reclaimed the land where Soldier Field and the Field Museum now stand, according to wikipedia.org. That foundation carried the firm from a Great Lakes partnership to the nation’s dominant dredging contractor.

This contract represents the 3rd contract awarded to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLC, in 2026, bringing the company’s total contract value for the year to $82,128,971. It is also the 70th Department of Defense contract awarded in Texas during 2026. While this is not the largest contract ever awarded to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLC, whose record stands at $219,108,350, it is notable within the Army portfolio. Specifically, it falls between the 2026 Army portfolio’s year-to-date minimum of $9,051,490 and maximum of $53,859,843,289. Overall, this award was announced among 4 Department of Defense contracts issued nationwide on August 7, 2026.