Posted on September 25, 2025
MANISTEE — Manistee’s harbor dredging work has started and the Buxton II can be seen in the Manistee River channel as of Wednesday afternoon.
King Company is expected to dredge 36,400 cubic yards of shoaling. Dredging is scheduled to be completed before Nov. 4, 2025.
Arielle Breen/Manistee News Advocate
In a news release issued Friday, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers notes that the work was projected to start as early as Sept. 21. The work is weather dependent and expected to be finished by Nov. 4.
The maintenance project will remove seasonal shoaling at the mouth of the channel, which impacts commercial traffic when left unaddressed. The work is being done to ensure safe navigation.
Dredging is considered necessary to fix the shallow areas where sediment has built up. It maintains navigable depths needed to allow for large vessel traffic to continue to move through the Port City.
Earlier this summer, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded the $699,225 contract to King Company, of Holland, to dredge Manistee’s outer harbor. King Company is expected to dredge 36,400 cubic yards of shoaling.
Dredged sediment will be placed along the shoreline and transported through a submerged pipeline about 0.5 mile south of Manistee Harbor South Breakwater.
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers news release states that the public is asked to observe all posted signs, avoid the dredge pipeline, discharge pontoon and supporting vessels working in the area.
The discharge creates dynamic hydraulic and lake bottom conditions and should be avoided.
Boaters are asked to follow guidance from the notices and broadcasts to mariners and avoid areas where orange buoys mark the pipeline every 500 feet. Yellow illuminated pontoons will mark each end.
