Posted on August 20, 2025
MANISTEE — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a contract to King Company of Holland to dredge Manistee’s outer harbor this fall.
The dredging will be carried out by the Buxton II, which is returning to Manistee after completing work in 2022 and 2024. According to Dredging Today, the project will remove an estimated 40,000 to 70,000 cubic yards of material from the harbor.
Under the contract, dredging will cover the harbor entrance to the Manistee River Channel, with material placed nearshore within 3,000 feet south of the south breakwater, in shallow water about 4 to 12 feet deep. The work is intended to clear sediment buildup and maintain safe navigation in and out of the harbor.
King Company was the sole bidder for the project, at $699,225, according to local ship-watcher Chris Franckowiak.
At the Manistee Harbor Commission’s July 15 meeting, harbormaster Jeff Mikula told commissioners the project was expected to start this fall.
“They expect that work will be started in late September, early October-ish, depending on how the bids come in,” Mikula said.
Dredging is routine maintenance for the Manistee harbor. It prevents sand buildup at the entrance and keeps the channel deep enough for freighters, charter fishing boats and recreational boaters.
In recent years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has returned on a fairly regular cycle, including in 2022 when King Company removed nearly 30,000 cubic yards of sediment from the outer harbor. Two years later, in 2024, crews carried out another maintenance dredge after shoaling was discovered in the channel that spring. The work restored navigable depth for vessels.
In addition to dredging, Mikula reported the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is conducting testing for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS.
“They are still working on doing some sampling in the river for PFAS,” he said. “There was an upland site that had PFAS, and so now they’re doing their due diligence in the river, if there’s any existence in the sediments there.”
PFAS are often called “forever chemicals” because they break down very slowly in the environment. They have been linked to health risks and are the focus of testing and cleanup efforts across Michigan, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Mikula said the city will also need a long-term disposal plan for fine material.
“We’ll be looking for a permanent dredge disposal area for silty sediments that are not the sandy sediments that we have out at the outer harbor,” he told commissioners.
Dredging work scheduled for fall 2025 will focus on the outer harbor entrance channel, just outside Manistee’s piers on Lake Michigan.
The Manistee River channel connects Manistee Lake and Lake Michigan in Manistee.
