Donjon Marine Wins $69 Million Newark Bay Dredging Contract

Donjon Marine Co. Inc. of Hillside, New Jersey, has won a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contract to maintain federal navigation channels in Newark Bay. The firm-fixed-price award has a total cumulative face value of $69.2 million, including $53.2 million for the announced action. Donjon will remove accumulated material from channels serving the Port Newark area, with work in Newark, New Jersey, expected to be completed by Feb. 4, 2027.

Newark Bay Maintenance Dredging Details

Donjon will dredge designated areas of the Main, Port Newark and Port Newark Pierhead channels. The work involves excavating sediment and debris that have accumulated in the navigation routes to maintain their required depths and widths. The Corps’ project specifications identify dredging-area and sounding maps for the work and include requirements for transporting and monitoring the placement of dredged material.

Sediment handling is a significant part of the project. A January 2026 technical report included with the solicitation documents describes sampling in the Main and Port Newark Branch channels to assess material for upland beneficial use in New York or New Jersey. The report documents tests of grain size, moisture and organic carbon; it does not establish a final placement site for material removed under this award.

The Corps conducts recurring maintenance dredging in Newark Bay, where sediment accumulation affects channels used by deep-draft commercial vessels. A March 2026 Corps public notice proposed removing approximately 830,000 cubic yards across five Newark Bay channels. That planning estimate covers a broader area than the three channels named in Donjon’s solicitation and is not a stated quantity for this contract.

Award and Contractor Background

The Corps received four bids for the Newark Bay work. Donjon Marine has performed other maintenance dredging in the same federal navigation project. A related contract with a potential value of $82.1 million called for removal of approximately 386,000 cubic yards of silt and clay from the Main and South Elizabeth channels, with a potential performance end in February 2026. That work specified a mechanical dredge with a closed-clamshell environmental bucket and placement of material at state-permitted upland sites; those particulars should not be assumed to apply to the new award.

Donjon also received a $32.3 million Newark Bay maintenance-dredging contract announced by the Corps in August 2024. The earlier awards illustrate the recurring nature of channel-maintenance work in the bay.

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 W912DS26CA029 after the contract is formally disclosed by the government.