Posted on September 22, 2025
MANISTEE— The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District will begin maintenance dredging of the Manistee Harbor federal channel as early as Sunday, Sept. 21, weather permitting, to clear seasonal shoaling that can impede commercial traffic, according to a Corps news release issued Thursday.
State-certified dredged sediment will be pumped through a submerged pipeline to a placement area about a half-mile south of the Manistee South Pier, where it will be discharged in 4–12 feet of water. The Corps said the placement is designed to allow natural wave action to renourish nearby erosion points while minimizing impacts to beachgoers.
“Manistee Harbor has seen significant shoaling from weather events in recent years, necessitating the Corps of Engineers to dredge the harbor more frequently for large vessel traffic,” said Liz Newell Wilkinson, operations manager for the Corps’ Grand Haven Office. “We thank the Manistee community leaders and public for their support in keeping our dredging operations safe and on schedule.”
The Corps advised the public to heed posted signs and avoid the dredge pipeline, discharge pontoon and support vessels. Orange buoys will mark the pipeline every 500 feet and yellow illuminated pontoons will mark each end, the release said. Recreational boaters are asked to follow Notices and Broadcasts to Mariners.
King Company of Holland, Michigan, received a $699,225 contract to remove 36,400 cubic yards of material, according to the Corps. Work is scheduled to finish before Nov. 4. The release also noted that Manistee is a significant receiving port on Lake Michigan, generating about $22 million in annual business revenue and $7 million in labor income for the transportation sector. The federal channel also serves as a harbor of refuge and home to U.S. Coast Guard Station Manistee.
Why dredging matters for big ships
Manistee Harbor is designed to be 25 feet deep at the entrance from Lake Michigan and 23 feet deep in the river reach leading to Manistee Lake, according to Corps project documents. But storms and currents wash sand into the mouth of the channel, creating shallow spots. At times, depths have dropped to around 14 feet, too shallow for the big freighters that service the port. In April 2024, a commercial vessel drafting 19 feet was unable to enter, according to Corps navigation notices.
Routine dredging restores those depths, allowing larger ships to safely call on Manistee again.
Largest ships using Manistee
The biggest vessels that routinely visit are self-unloading bulk freighters like the Calumet and Great Republic. Each is about 630 feet long and 68 feet wide, with a draft that can approach the harbor’s depth limits, according to vessel records and Great Lakes shipping logs. Another frequent caller, the Canadian-owned Northern Venture, measures 508 feet long by 72 feet wide, and Manistee also sees the tug-and-barge unit Undaunted/Pere Marquette 41, which together extend nearly 490 feet in length, according to marine tracking reports.
These ships fit the harbor’s narrow river channel, which in places is only about 100 feet wide, leaving little extra room on either side, according to Visit Manistee County’s harbor guide.
What “beam” means
The term beam is the nautical word for a ship’s width at its widest point. For example, a freighter with a 68-foot beam needs a channel comfortably wider than that to maneuver safely. Manistee’s river reach averages around 100 feet wide, which explains why freighters with beams in the 68–72 foot range are the largest that can use the port on a regular basis, according to Corps project data.
