ST. THOMAS — The long-planned dredging of Charlotte Amalie Harbor is scheduled to begin by October 12, with the V.I. Port Authority outlining a two-phase operation that will deepen key sections of the harbor while moving dredged material by vessel and truck between St. Thomas and St. Croix.
VIPA said it has executed a contract worth up to $41.927 million with Orion Marine Construction Inc. to dredge the Charlotte Amalie Harbor entrance channel, turning basin and West Indian Company berth pocket. The contract was executed June 5 after VIPA’s Board of Governors approved the award in March, and Orion has 365 days from the start of dredging to complete the project.
The October 12 date gives the project its most specific construction timetable yet. When VIPA officials appeared before lawmakers in August, Engineering Director Preston Beyer said dredging was expected to begin within 60 to 90 days, putting October at the earliest end of the anticipated start window.
“This long-awaited project represents a significant investment in the future of St. Thomas and the Territory’s maritime infrastructure,” VIPA Executive Director Ava Penn said in announcing the schedule. She said the project follows years of planning and is intended to improve navigational access for larger vessels and maintain safe operating conditions in the harbor.
VIPA said the work will be coordinated around scheduled cruise ship calls and that it does not expect the dredging to adversely affect cruise traffic to St. Thomas. The harbor improvements are aimed in part at making it easier for larger cruise vessels to berth at the WICO dock in Havensight.
The first phase, scheduled from October 2026 through March 2027, will remove material classified as non-beach quality from the entrance channel, turning basin and WICO berth pocket. That material will be loaded onto vessels and transported from Charlotte Amalie Harbor to the south shore of St. Croix.
Once on St. Croix, the material will be temporarily placed at the Gordon A. Finch Molasses Pier in Krause Lagoon for dewatering. It will then be loaded onto trucks and transported to a disused quarry on the north side of Henry E. Rohlsen Airport for permanent placement.
The second phase, planned from March through October 2027, will focus on beach-quality material removed from the entrance channel. Instead of going to St. Croix, that material will be transported by vessel to the Crown Bay Cargo Port, unloaded and trucked to the former Addelita Cancryn Junior High School property. VIPA said individual construction activities may shift depending on cruise schedules, marine operations, weather and other project requirements.
The former Cancryn property has been undergoing a separate $2.527 million demolition and preparation project so it can receive the beach-quality dredged material. Hazardous-material abatement began in December 2025, followed by building demolition in June. VIPA now says demolition of several buildings is largely complete and the remaining work should be finished by the end of 2026.
That represents a later completion window than VIPA announced in June, when the authority said demolition was expected to conclude by late September. At that time, all hazardous material within the project area had been removed and shipped to an approved mainland disposal site, while debris hauling and structural demolition were underway.
The Legislature has committed $23 million toward the harbor dredging — $17 million through Act 8787 and another $6 million through Act 9068. When the contract was approved in March, VIPA said the remaining $18.927 million would come from marine bonds once issued and collected. Yacht Haven Grande is separately responsible for dredging associated with its portion of the project.
The Consortium reported in March that Orion was selected after a competitive procurement in which five firms submitted proposals. Three bids advanced through the evaluation process, with Noble Construction submitting a base bid of approximately $30.97 million, The Dutra Group bidding approximately $38.09 million and Orion bidding $41.927 million. VIPA said Orion’s higher price was considered reasonable given the project's requirements and current construction conditions.
The dredging has been pursued for years as St. Thomas works to accommodate the increasingly large vessels entering the Caribbean cruise market. With the contract now executed and a target start date established, the project is moving from years of permitting, financing and procurement into the physical dredging of Charlotte Amalie Harbor.
