Posted on August 21, 2026
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District, announced today, Aug. 19, the completion of the Georgetown Harbor maintenance dredging project, restoring safe and reliable depth to the area’s vital federal navigation channels in Georgetown, South Carolina.
The $3.5 million infrastructure investment successfully cleared critical shoaling that had reduced channel depths to less than 5 feet in some areas, presenting severe navigation hazards. The completed dredging restores the Steel Mill and Bypass channels to their authorized operating depth of 12 feet, plus an additional 2 feet of overdepth.
During the 2-month operation, contractor Southern Dredging from Charleston, South Carolina, removed a total of 561,320 cubic yards of accumulated sand and silt from the harbor. This included dredging 389,384 cubic yards of material from the Steel Mill Channel and 171,936 cubic yards from the Bypass Channel.
To put the scale of the project into perspective, this volume of material would fill approximately 46,770 standard construction dump trucks. Lined up bumper-to-bumper, those trucks would form a continuous convoy stretching more than 220 miles—roughly the driving distance from Georgetown to Charlotte, North Carolina.
“Maintaining safe and navigable waterways is critical to the economic vitality of Georgetown,” said Sonja Carter, Charleston District project manager. “This dredging project successfully removed significant underwater hazards, ensuring safe passage for both commercial and recreational boaters, while directly supporting the region’s long-term prosperity.”
The project’s completion marks a major milestone for the harbor, where inside channel maintenance dredging had been suspended since August 2008 due to budget constraints and changing vessel traffic. By restoring reliable channel depths, the project revitalizes key industrial waterfront properties and directly supports the Georgetown Port Master Plan and regional Multi-County Industrial Park initiatives.
Dredging operations ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week, utilizing a specialized cutterhead dredge selected specifically to minimize water turbidity. Crews safely deposited the material into the secure, 139-acre upland Sampit Placement Area, avoiding any need for ocean disposal.
The work was completed in compliance with wildlife protection standards, including the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Under the regional South Atlantic Regional Biological Opinion, the Charleston District maintained species monitoring and continuous water-quality testing to protect local wildlife, including sturgeon, sea turtles and West Indian manatees.
