Matthews Brothers Dredging Wins $16 Million Houston Ship Channel Maintenance Contract
HigherGov09/27/2026
Contract Award Defense
HigherGov
Matthews Brothers Dredging LLC of Pass Christian, Mississippi, won a $16.1 million firm-fixed-price contract from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Galveston District to maintain the Houston Ship Channel in Harris County, Texas. The work covers the reach from Sims Bayou to the Upper Turning Basin and is expected to be completed by April 9, 2027, according to the award notice.
Houston Ship Channel Sims to Turning Basin Maintenance Dredging Details
Matthews Brothers will remove accumulated sediment from the Sims Bayou-to-Upper Turning Basin reach. The solicitation description estimated approximately 800,000 cubic yards of dredging and identified mechanical and pipeline dredging as methods for the work. It called for dredged material to be placed at the Rosa Allen Placement Area. The estimate is a planning quantity, rather than a reported amount removed.
The contract is part of routine channel maintenance. In a March 2026 operations briefing, the Galveston District described maintenance dredging as necessary to sustain authorized depths and reliable navigation. The district said the Houston Ship Channel system serves 115 public and private facilities and more than 160 deep-draft berths.
Award and Contractor Background
Three bids were received. Matthews Brothers also received a Houston Ship Channel dredging contract covering sections of the Sims-to-Turning-Basin reach with a potential value of $15.4 million and a listed potential performance end in October 2024.
The Corps has contracted for maintenance of this reach before. In February 2017, it announced a $5.3 million award to Crosby Dredging to remove an estimated 500,000 cubic yards using a pipeline dredge, with material directed to the West Clinton Placement Area.
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 W912HY26CA037 after the contract is formally disclosed by the government.