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“My typical shift begins with a safety meeting and stretches,” he said. This industry has been very good to me.”Īs a leverman, Hewitt said he operates the dredge and works tracks, where he digs out sediment. “My great-grandfather owned a dredging company, so I grew up with it,” he said. Hewitt said that for him, working in the dredging industry was a no-brainer. “You can work as a deckhand and advance all the way up to captain.” “Once you’ve been hired to work on the dredge, you do lots of on-site training where you learn from the bottom up,” he said. However, similar to towboat employees, Hewitt said those on a dredge start out as deckhands. Once their 28-day hitch on the dredge is up, they return home to their families. Unlike those who work onboard a towboat, dredge operators like Hewitt work their 12-hour shifts and then stay in an RV park when their shift ends. You do miss out on some things at home, but it allows us to have a good life. “I have nine kids and it’s helped me put them through school. The dredge operates on the Mississippi River between Phillips County, Ark., and Hickman, Ky., where it dredges sediment like silt and gravel.įor Hewitt, who works onboard the Iowa for 28 days on and 14 days off, his 12-hour days have been worth it. The Iowa is a 24-inch hydraulic cutter that is 250 feet long and 32 feet wide. Prior to coming to GLDD three years ago, Hewitt worked for Inland Dredging Company. Guy Hewitt, a leverman and superintendent for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (GLDD) Company, has been working in the dredging industry for nearly 40 years. Not only is dredging crucial to maintaining the depth and width of channels to keep them navigable for towing vessels, the sediment collected by dredges is often used to replenish sand lost on beaches due to coastal erosion or in construction projects. (Photo courtesy Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company)Īn often-overlooked aspect of the river transportation industry is dredging or the excavation of river bottoms and shores. H��W�nG�g~�>�ӢG��s��d�4�,|���i�ěE����4��k��b�a�ݢ��f��?��d/.Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company’s dredge Iowa is a 24-inch hydraulic cutter that operates on the river between Phillips County, Ark., and Hickman, Ky. 1.)/RD/Type/Annot/AP>endobj32 0 objstream