The Greater Lafourche Port Commission (GLPC) has announced the completion of the bucket dredging phase in Slip D, the latest development in Port Fourchon’s Northern Expansion area.
The initial dredging of Port Fourchon’s new Slip D, which broke ground less than one year ago, is the most recent benchmark completed in the progression of the port’s Northern Expansion development plan.
Bucket dredging is the first physical step in the creation of a new slip in a port development area.
To carve out the footprint of Slip D, contractors used a barge-mounted bucket dredge and dragline to dig the outline of the 3,800 foot long and 1,000 foot wide slip, like scooping out the first shovelfuls of earth at a groundbreaking.
During this first phase of work, over 451,000 cubic yards of material were excavated.
Every speck of dredged material is used beneficially in Port Fourchon, and in Slip D, initial dredged material is being used to form containment levees for the next phase of the project’s construction. It took workers seven months to complete this first phase of excavation in Slip D.
GLPC is on schedule to start work on the next phase of the project – hydraulic dredging – by early 2017.
The hydraulic dredging work will be done in two stages as part of Port Fourchon’s unique focus on enhancing the resiliency of the port through continued development.
The materials excavated in the first phase of hydraulic dredging will be used to construct over 60 acres of wetlands in the port area, which will not only fulfill the port’s development permit obligations but also double as a natural protective buffer for the port from hurricanes and storm surge.
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