Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp. (GLDD), Houston, has launched the 461' Jones Act-compliant rock installation vessel (SRI) Acadia at Hanwha Philly Shipyard, Philadelphia. The Acadia is the first U.S flagged, Jones Act-compliant subsea rock installation (SRI) vessel.
The Acadia is engineered to transport and precisely install up to 20,000 metric tons of rock on the seabed. The rock provides critical scour protection for subsea infrastructure including subsea cables for power transmission, telecommunications cables, oil and gas pipelines and subsea structures and offshore wind turbine foundations, preventing erosion caused by waves and currents and mechanical impacts from equipment and vessels.
In addition to supporting the U.S. domestic market, Great Lakes has expanded its market focus for the Acadia to work in the international offshore energy development markets.
“We are excited to see the launch of the Acadia, getting us closer to her expected delivery early next year which will also mark the completion of our major new build program,” Lasse Petterson, president and CEO, said in a statement announcing the launch. “The Acadia is the centerpiece of our offshore energy growth strategy and will begin operations immediately upon leaving the shipyard.”
GLDD originally contracted with Philly Shipyard in 2021 to build the Acadia for $197 million. By 2024, GLDD, citing significant delays and disagreements over the construction of the first-of-its-kind subsea rock installation vessel built in the U.S., filed a request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in U.S. Eastern District Court, claiming the shipyard's actions were causing substantial harm to the project timeline. No details about how much the delays have added to the original price have been released.
That same year, Hanwha Systems and Hanwha Ocean finalized their $100 million acquisition of Philly Shipyard, marking the official start of Hanwha’s U.S. shipbuilding operations under the new name Hanwha Philly Shipyard, expanding South Korea's Hanwha’s presence in U.S. commercial and government shipbuilding markets.
“The launch of the Acadia marks a major milestone for our offshore energy business,” said Eleni Beyko, senior vice president, offshore energy. Upon delivery, the Acadia will start her journey towards New York for the installation of rock for the Empire Wind I offshore wind farm and continue working on the U.S. East Coast on contracted work through the end of 2026. Over the last two years we have actively engaged with clients for new engagements on offshore energy projects for Acadia for 2027 and beyond.”
With steel sourced from Ohio, and labor from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Louisiana, construction of the Acadia created more than one million manhours of high paying jobs at the shipyard and once operational will employ U.S. mariners for many years to come.
