Curtin Maritime Wins $9 Million Army Corps Contract for Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Dredging

Curtin Maritime Corp. of Long Beach, California, won a $9.2 million firm-fixed-price contract from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District to dredge sediment from the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal inland waterway. The work covers portions of the canal and its Upper Chesapeake Bay approaches under the Corps’ maintenance-dredging solicitation. The award notice lists Middletown, Delaware, as the work location and an estimated completion date of Jan. 30, 2027.

Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Maintenance Dredging Details

Curtin will remove and dispose of accumulated sediment at locations along the canal and Upper Chesapeake Bay portion of the project. The amended solicitation calls for dredging between channel stations 00+000 and 250+440 and estimates removal and satisfactory disposal of 520,778 cubic yards of material. That estimate rose from 268,836 cubic yards in an earlier version of the bid schedule.

The work documents call for a depth of 35 feet below mean lower low water, with 1 foot of allowable overdredging, from station 99+000 to 250+440. They also specify a 36-foot depth, plus 1 foot of allowable overdepth, within the work limits shown on the drawings from station 00+000 to 250+440. Where sediment has built up along a channel edge, dredging may extend 25 feet outside the channel limits within authorized boundaries.

The solicitation provides 120 calendar days from notice to proceed for performance. It prohibits hopper, hydraulic and bucket dredging from April 1 through Sept. 30 each year to minimize effects on migratory fish, leaving the dredging work to be carried out outside that seasonal restriction.

Award and Contractor Background

The Corps received four bids for the unrestricted competition. The solicitation called for award to the lowest-priced bidder found responsive and responsible.

Curtin also received a related $10.8 million canal maintenance-dredging contract in 2025. In a September 2025 announcement, the Corps said that effort covered Chesapeake Bay approach channels and called for mechanical dredging of approximately 500,000 cubic yards between Reedy Point and Pooles Island. The new solicitation’s 520,778-cubic-yard estimate is comparable in scale, though it describes a separate award. The canal is part of a roughly 46-mile federal navigation project connecting the Delaware River and upper Chesapeake Bay, according to the Corps’ project fact sheet.

This award was disclosed by the DoW in its daily press release. Additional contract details will be available on HigherGov in approximately 90 days under W912BU26CA039 after the contract is formally disclosed by the government.