2010-07-27 23:51:03 -

The Manatee County Port Authority announced today that Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. has been awarded the contract for Port Manatee’s Berth 12 dredging project.

The project, which includes dredging the berth to a depth of 41 feet at mean-low-water and extending it from 1,000 feet to nearly 1,600 feet, is the final piece of Port Manatee’s 11-year, $200 million port expansion project.

Great Lakes’ $14.8 million bid was accepted just two months after initial bids were rejected by the port authority for exceeding the engineer’s estimate for the cost of the project. The re-bid process resulted in a $2.3 million savings for the port – 14 percent less than the original bid. The winning proposal includes the base bid

and bid alternate : , representing 1.1 million cubic yards of excavation and removal by hydraulic dredge to a certified uplands spoil disposal site.

“Port staff’s many years in dealing with dredging issues made us confident that a more favorable outcome was probable by re-bidding the project,” said David L. McDonald PPM ® , Port Manatee’s executive director. “The savings provided by the lower bid creates a more certain timeline for the project’s completion.”

Port Manatee’s new Berth 12 is expected to accommodate containerized shipping and be operational by early-2011. The berth sits adjacent to the port’s planned 52-acre container terminal – designed to attract new containerized shipping traffic.



Port ManateeSteve Tyndal, Senior Director, 941-650-7302 (Cell)orJill
VanderPol, Communications Manager, 941-722-6621or 941-650-7306
(Cell)