PORT OF LOS ANGELES : Massive Dredging to Add Thousands of Jobs

The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners says thousands of jobs will be generated in Southern California over the next three years under a $148.6-million contract awarded last week.

The contract for a major three-year dredging project in the Port of Los Angeles is the largest dredging and landfill contract in the history of the United States, said Dwayne Lee, deputy executive director of development for the port.

Illinois-based Great Lakes Dredging and Dock Co. and Connolly-Pacific Co. of Long Beach will begin dredging a new channel from the breakwater to Pier 300 on Terminal Island next month, he said.

Water depths will be increased to 63 feet to accommodate deep-draft container ships and larger vessels.

The tons of material dredged from the harbor will be used to construct a rock dike that will become the new Pier 400. Eventually covering 582 acres in the port’s outer harbor, the structure will help accommodate an expected doubling of cargo by the year 2020, Lee said.

In the long range, Pier 400 will house the port’s liquid bulk petroleum facilities, he said.

The harbor board expects 2,100 jobs will be created during the peak year of construction in 1995. No estimates were available on how many permanent jobs might be created by the project.