Donjon Marine Awarded $24.7 Million Army Dredging Deal for NY-NJ Channels
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded Hillside, New Jersey-based Donjon Marine a firm-fixed-price contract to dredge portions of the New York and New Jersey Channels, with work due by Nov. 3, 2026.
HILLSIDE, NEW JERSEY — Donjon Marine Co. LLC, a Hillside, New Jersey, marine construction firm, received a $24.7 million Army contract to dredge portions of the New York and New Jersey Channels, keeping one of the nation’s busiest port corridors open to deep-draft ships.
The firm-fixed-price award covers maintenance dredging and drew four bids solicited over the internet, according to war.gov. Fiscal 2026 civil operations and maintenance funds of $24.7 million funded the award. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, is the contracting activity for the deal, identified as W912DS-26-C-A012, as announced on war.gov.
“These changes are painful but necessary,” no official quote accompanied the contract notice, so the Corps of Engineers released only the award terms, listing Carteret, New Jersey, as the work site and Nov. 3, 2026, as the estimated completion date.
Maintenance dredging removes sediment that settles in shipping lanes, restoring the depth cargo vessels need to move goods through the harbor. The Port of New York and New Jersey ranks among the largest container gateways on the East Coast, and silted channels slow or reroute the ships that supply the region. Deeper, cleared lanes benefit terminal operators, importers, and consumers who rely on steady freight flows, while the contractor and its crews gain months of guaranteed work.
The award marks the first contract to Donjon Marine in 2026 and the 20th Department of Defense contract in New Jersey this year, according to war.gov. It is not the largest deal the firm has secured, whose record stands at $215 million. The award ranks among three Department of Defense contracts issued nationwide on July 30, 2026.
Harbor dredging rarely surfaces in daily life for the average reader in the New York metropolitan area, yet it underpins the supply chains that stock store shelves and fuel construction. Channels kept at their authorized depth admit larger vessels, lowering per-container shipping costs that ripple through retail prices.
Maintenance dredging of the harbor has happened before, and repeatedly. The Corps of Engineers has managed federal channels in the estuary for more than a century, contracting private dredging firms on recurring cycles as tides and rivers deposit fresh sediment each year.
The next decision on the harbor’s upkeep rests with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York district, which oversees performance and future dredging cycles. A date for the next related award has not been announced.
The New York and New Jersey Channels have shaped the region’s commerce for generations, as they do again with this award. The harbor’s modern shipping lanes trace to the early 20th century, when engineers cut and deepened passages to serve a booming immigrant port. During World War II, the harbor moved troops and materiel at a scale unmatched on the Atlantic seaboard. Each expansion demanded constant dredging to fight the silt, and the firms that won that work kept the port, and the fortunes tied to it, afloat.
This contract represents the 1st contract awarded to Donjon Marine Co. LLC, in 2026, bringing the company’s total contract value for the year to $24,703,050. It is also the 20th Department of Defense contract awarded in New Jersey during 2026. While this is not the largest contract ever awarded to Donjon Marine Co. LLC, whose record stands at $215,000,000, it is notable within the Army portfolio. Specifically, it falls between the 2026 Army portfolio’s year-to-date minimum of $9,051,490 and maximum of $53,859,843,289. Overall, this award was announced among 3 Department of Defense contracts issued nationwide on July 30, 2026.
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