Great Lakes Dredge And Dock Corporation Company Profile

Great Lakes is the largest provider of dredging services in the United States and is the only U.S. dredging service provider with significant international operations. The Company was founded in 1890 as Lydon & Drews Partnership and performed its first project in Chicago, Illinois. The Company changed its name to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company in 1905 and was involved in a number of marine construction and landfill projects along the Chicago lakefront and in the surrounding Great Lakes region. Great Lakes now provides dredging services in the East, West, and Gulf Coasts of the United States and worldwide. The Company also owns specialty contracting service providers which primarily offers environmental, remediation and geotechnical services throughout the United States.

The Company operates in four operating segments that, through aggregation, comprise two reportable segments: dredging and environmental & remediation. Four operating segments were aggregated into two reportable segments as the segments have similarity in economic margins, services, production processes, customer types, distribution methods and regulatory environment. The Company has determined that the operating segments are the Company’s four reporting units.

Dredging generally involves the enhancement or preservation of navigability of waterways or the protection of shorelines through the removal or replenishment of soil, sand or rock. Domestically, our work generally is performed in coastal waterways and deep water ports. The U.S. dredging market consists of four primary types of work: capital, coastal protection, maintenance and rivers & lakes. The Company’s “bid market” is defined as the aggregate dollar value of domestic dredging projects on which the Company bid or could have bid if not for capacity constraints or other considerations.

Coastal protection was previously referred to as beach nourishment. Coastal protection is a more accurate description of this important dredging work that protects valuable infrastructure along the coast lines. Coastal protection projects generally involve moving sand from the ocean floor to shoreline locations where erosion threatens shoreline assets. Beach erosion is a continuous problem that has intensified with the rise in coastal development and has become an important issue for state and local governments concerned with protecting beachfront tourism and real estate. Coastal protection via beach nourishment is often viewed as a better response to erosion than trapping sand through the use of sea walls and jetties, or relocating buildings and other assets away from the shoreline. Generally, coastal protection projects take place during the fall and winter months to minimize interference with bird and marine life migration and breeding patterns as well as coastal recreation activities.

The environmental & remediation segment provides soil, water and sediment environmental remediation for clients in both the public and private sectors in the United States. Remediation involves the containment, immobilization or removal of contamination from an environment through the use of any combination of isolation, treatment, or exhumation techniques including off-site disposal based on the quantity and severity of the contamination.