Deepening the entrance Bar Channel and interior channels of San Juan Harbor, with offshore disposal of materials, including:

• Drilling, blasting and cutter suction dredging of 459,000 m³ of rock and sand on the Bar Channel in exposed sea conditions with rock strengths ranging from 10.3 to 165.5 MPa.
• Stripping of 1,835,000 m³ of soft clay by hopper and clamshell dredges in the Anegado Channel, Army Terminal Channel, and Army Terminal Basin.
• Dredging to grade of 385,000 m³ of stiff clay by backhoe dredge in the Army Terminal Channel and Basin.
• Debris and archeological site removals.

The total contract, valued at more than $200 million (including $60 million for dredging operations), entailed dredging 24 million m³ of material to be used to build land for the new port, the placement of 4 million tons of rock protection and breakwater structures, and construction of a 1.8-km-long blockwork quaywall. Great Lakes used the cutter suction dredge Carolina and the trailing suction hopper dredge Victoria Island to complete the works.

Immediately following the end of major military activity, Great Lakes was contracted to dredge and dispose of 4.5 million m³ of accumulated silts from the floor of the Port of Umm Qasr. The company conducted its own hydrographic survey. The presence of unexploded ordnance complicated the project, necessitating the use of specialists in the areas of magnetometric survey and disposal of unexploded ordnance.

Dredging: 4.5 million m³ of silts and debris

Funding: U.S. Agency for International Development

The purpose of the project was to create a much-widened stretch of reclaimed land and to put in place a protective revetment and groyne system that would prevent future inundation of inhabited areas by storm waters from the Gulf of Guinea in one direction or by flood waters in the Keta Lagoon from the other. The company restored beaches between the groynes along a 9-km stretch. The works also entailed the construction of a 9-km road, the purchase and operation of a nearby rock quarry, and the creation and maintenance of some 50 km of suitable roadways for transport of the rock via the company's fleet of eight 100-ton ore trucks. GLD&D did this work with two demountable cutter suction dredges, and finished four months ahead of schedule.

This project involved the deepening and widening of the entrance channel to the Port of Doha, the construction of a container terminal site, and bund construction for the future development of a new international airport.

Channel Excavation: 16 km in length, 165 m wide, 11 m deep

Material placement: Caprock, bedrock limestone, gravel, sand and silt material 10,000,000 m³ 4 million m³ reclamation

Rock Armor Placement: 1,000,000 tons

This project involved dredging and reclamation of approximately 1,500,000 m³ of sand from the Meghna River in Bangladesh. The project was to provide suitable fill for bridge approaches, roadways, construction yards, staging areas and shore protection at the site of the proposed Bhairab Bridge. Simultaneously the dredging work was to provide a new ferry channel for the existing river transport system, and to remove material from the centerline of the new bridge to decrease the quantity of soils through which piles would have to be driven.

A contract with the State of Qatar to perform the dredging, excavation and reclamation works, to transform a low-lying and unsightly marsh into a luxury, residential lagoon development accommodating hundreds of housing plots, a hotel, conference center, sports and recreational facilities with extensive public beach access, marina facilities and protective breakwater structures. Offshore work was performed with the 11,200-hp, cutter suction dredge Illinois, which underwent extensive modifications to enable it to dredge at the minimum required depth of 3.5 m. Total material excavated: 5.5 million m³.

Approximately 26 million m³ of soils were excavated. The existing coastline consisted of a gently shelving beach that required an access channel some 2.2 miles long in order to reach the required depth of 18m. Disposal of dredged material was at designated onshore or offshore disposal areas, approximately 8 km from the turning basin. Overburden was removed by dry excavation and then a cutter dredge removed the remainder of the material. A second cutter dredge then removed the underlying gravel to the offshore disposal area using a spider barge and scows. Once a depth of 10 m had been achieved, a hopper dredge completed the dredging of the access channel and turning circle to the final depth of 18 m.

In a phased construction sequence, a GLDD cutter suction dredge first deepened the port alongside a previously constructed dock, which was designed to transfer fluid fuels from transport vessels to the power plant ashore; dredged material was pumped to a limited upland disposal area. As part of this effort, GLDD added a new weir, and upgraded the disposal area. A bucket dredge then removed remaining material remaining. After loading each bargeful of material, the dredge was moved across the harbor to offload the scow to the upland area. The dredge loaded large offroad trucks, which hauled the material to a nearby disposal area. The final phase of the work was to dredge to an entrance channel to accommodate the larger ships that would be bringing coal to the power plant.

Dredging the entrance channel necessitated the removal of only about 450,000 yd³, but the material to be dredged was limestone of varying strengths, and timing was critical. The dredged material, placed directly adjacent to the new channel, was to form the bund on which the dock and staging area were later constructed. Though it was thought that the dredging could be done by a cutter suction dredge without blasting, the decision was made to blast, to meet schedule.

This trench project involved excavating 70 m x 1.1 km flotation channel and a 0.9-km pipeline trench. Several hundred meters of the excavation was through rock, which was drilled and blasted for removal. This rock had compressive strengths up to 105.3 MPa. The final trench was 8.5 m deep. An extension of the shore was built from the pumphouse foundation pad out away from the shore to enable the end of the trench to be drilled and blasted in the dry with shore equipment. The dredged material was pumped offshore to create a recreational island.

Development of an LNG berthing facility for a new power plant on India's west coast. This project involved creation of a new channel and an adjacent turning basin. Excavating soft sediments, GLDD used a hopper dredge to remove 1.2 million m³ of clay from the channel and turning basin, digging to a depth of 14 m, and transported the dredged material to an offshore disposal area. A hydraulic chisel was used for fragmentation of 300,000 m³ of hard granite over an area of 450,000 m² this material was excavated by bucket-ladder dredge, loading material into barges for deposition at sea. Additionally, excavation for a foundation in advance of construction of a new breakwater was required.

Emergency maintenance dredging in the Port of Kuwait related to the war effort in Iraq.

GLD&D dredged alongside a newly constructed quay wall. The total project quantity was 315,000 m³, dredging to a depth of –13.0m along the 360-m face of the wall, and along its northern and southern approach curves. Nearly all the material was located within 50 m of the quay wall. Great Lakes dredged to –13.0m to within 5 m of the wall, but not deeper than –13.5m within 10 m of the quay wall. Since there were strict standards regarding the discharge of suspended solids, a special shoreside disposal area 750 m on a side was constructed, ensuring discharge of clear water through a specially constructed weir.

This small but complex project involved 40,000 m³ of dredged material. This material was disposed of upland in a very small storage area. The dredging cycle began with the clamshell dredge digging and loading a dump scow. The dredge and scow were then moved together to the nearby onshore offloading area. The dredge removed the material from the scow, casting it into a stockpile onshore. The material was then subsequently loaded into trucks by skiploader and hauled to the landfill, some 17 km distant.

South Shore Development consisted of the North Bay and South Bay Reclamation Areas. The Southern Bay Development was formed by dredging material from offshore for placement in the nearshore area to reclaim land for recreation and real estate development. The area was formed by removing material to create deep areas near the newly defined shoreline.

The graving dock for the construction of the world's largest petroleum drilling platform was enclosed by a large earthen berm. Great Lakes was contracted to excavate an evacuation channel behind the berm, and when the platform was ready for transport to its assembly site in deeper water, the company created an opening in the berm to allow entrance of water for flotation of the mammoth structure. This was schedule-sensitive work, and required the deployment of two bucket dredges, a drillboat, material barges and attendant vessels in a relatively small, confined area. The work was finished on schedule, despite the addition of numerous unanticipated elements.

Deepening and reclamation of 1.3 million m³ of sand and limestone, deepening the existing port to -14.5 m, construction of a totally new berthing area with a -17 m depth that would become the main container port. Though the limestone's hardness could vary widely even within a single swing of the dredge, the California's ample cutter power provided the energy to dredge the limestone unblasted. The dredge used electricity provided by the Bahamian Government, which also owned the local utility. The material was pumped to an aggregate facility located within the port and stockpiled, to be processed and used throughout the region.

Cutter suction dredging of sand and rock for navigation and for reclamation to construct an extension to the container terminal at the Port of Khor Fakkan

Construction of the Diyaar al Muharraq island system in the Kingdom of Bahrain is one of the largest project that Great Lakes has undertaken, calling for the excavation and placement of some 80 million m³ of material, as a joint venture with AA Nass Contracting. Nass was responsible for the rock works portions of the contract. The work proceeded in stages.

Stage I: 35 million m³ of marine borrow material over a 36-month period to reclaim 6,000,000 m² of new land.

Stage II: 45 million m³ of marine borrow material over a 36-month period to reclaim another 6,000,000 m² of land adjacent to the Stage I work.

The Bahrain government and Kuwait Finance House.

The Durrat Al Bahrain resort construction project is being completed by a joint venture between GLDD and AA Nass Contracting. Plans call for the reclamation of over six million square meters of land for the creation of the resort, which will consist of thirteen islands, with over 2,000 villas and more than 2,000 apartments, with luxury hotels, restaurants, promenades, shopping centers, marina, spas, sports facilities and an eighteen-hole golf course.