Veteran company to return to Oceanside harbor dredging

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has decided to rehire Manson Construction Co. of Seattle to handle the dredging of the Oceanside harbor.

Manson had done the work for several years until 2016 when the Army Corps chose another contractor — CJW Construction of Santa Ana — to conduct the dredging. The work dragged on for months, city officials said, obstructing parts of the harbor entrance and nearby beaches during the busy tourist season.

CJW had problems in part because an extended vetting process prevented it from starting the work on time. The dredging work is typically finished by Memorial Day — the last Monday in May — but last year the job began in June and ended in October.

The dredging contract with CJW cost $5 million last year, and the 2017 contract with Manson is expected to cost about the same.

Manson will stage its bulldozers, pipes, and other equipment, and work could begin in another week or two. The dredging project is to have all the work done before Memorial Day.

The man-made municipal harbor requires annual dredging to remove the sand that ocean currents constantly deposit at the entrance. As the mouth of the harbor fills with sand, the shallower water increases the size of incoming waves, making the navigation more hazardous for boaters.

Dredging lowers the depth to more than 20 feet at the entrance to keep boats safe during low tides and high swells.

Sand dredged from the harbor is piped in a seawater slurry onto beaches south of the harbor beginning at about the North Coast Village condominium complex. Sometimes, depending on the amount of sand dredged and the conditions of the beach, it could be spread past the city pier.

Manson’s larger dredge has two main advantages over smaller equipment, Federer said. One is that it is more efficient and can move more sand in less time, and the other is that its size is less subject to sea swells and other ocean conditions.

The Oceanside harbor, built at a cost of $7 million, opened in 1964 with 520 boat slips.

The news is collated by Globaldredge.com – Dredging Pipeline Supplier