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The issue was urgent as Oregon Inlet is the access point for the county’s large fish processing industry. When the county tried dredging via a pipeline, it only lasted about a year, he said. While the Corps of Engineers has dredges, they could only dedicate a small part of their time to maintaining the federally funded inlets, he said.Īdditionally, he said the inlets are “small and tight by comparison,” which meant some hopper vessels were too big to fit. “For years we’ve been looking for ways to figure out how to get more dredging,” he said.

Outten said the Miss Katie addresses a significant need for nearly full-time dredging at the inlets, an integral part of the unusually shaped county, which is 100 miles long and less than 1 mile wide in some places. It is permitted to work anywhere in the state of North Carolina if a local government has the proper permitting and needs service the Corps can’t provide, said Bobby Outten, county manager for Dare County. Under the direction of the Oregon Inlet Task Force, the Miss Katie will help address the significant shoaling in the Oregon and Hatteras inlets to keep them open and navigable for both commercial and recreational vessels. We look forward to continuing to provide our quality equipment to the dredging community, coast to coast.” “This was a collaborative effort between our dedicated shipyard personnel and our partners that will benefit the community of Dare County. “Conrad Shipyard is proud to have built the Miss Katie for EJE Dredging Service and Dare County,” Conrad Shipyard CEO and Chairman Johnny Conrad said. Crowley Maritime served as project manager. Design was by Jensen Naval Architects & Marine Engineers. The agreement includes provisions for a renewal of the contract for additional years.Ĭonrad Shipyard built the Miss Katie at its facility in Morgan City, La. The Miss Katie is owned and operated by EJE Dredging Service and will provide dredging to the county for the next 10 years at a reduced rate in return for the state loan being forgiven. Funding for the project came from a public-private partnership with the state of North Carolina, in which the legislature allocated $15 million from the Shallow Draft Navigation Channel Dredging and Aquatic Weed Fund in 2019. It was christened October 13 at its homeport of Wanchese, N.C.

A unique public-private partnership has resulted in the completion of a dredge that will spend its time primarily at two inlets off the coast of North Carolina.ĭare County, N.C., and EJE Dredging Service, LLC partnered on the shallow-draft, split-hull hopper dredge Miss Katie.

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