Houma Company Focuses On Coast-Building Dredges

HOUMA, La. (AP) — A Houma dredge company has christened a powerful ocean-going dredge that it says will be able to build barrier islands and do the kind of work that Louisiana officials say will be necessary to restore coastal Louisiana.

The Courier reports that Weeks Marine christened its newest vessel, the C.R. McCaskill, on Monday.

The ocean-going hydraulic cutter suction dredge is the third of five dredges the company is building for $200 million, said Richard Weeks, the company's president. The powerful dredge is capable of filling a swimming pool in 30 seconds and stands five stories tall, weighing more than 15,000 pounds.

The company plans to deploy the dredge along the Louisiana coast where officials hope to spend billions of dollars restoring the state's badly eroded and disappearing coast.