In addition, the natural movement of sand and silt works against the need to keep channels open, creating a maintenance opportunity for dredging firms. The need to widen and deepen ports and navigable channels is rising as ocean-going trade utilizes wider and deeper-draft ships. Dredging is the “simple” task of moving the sea bottom from Point A to Point B. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is the largest provider of dredging services and the only publicly traded US dredging company.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock sits right in the middle of these opportunities. The soon-to-be boom in US East Coast offshore wind power generation adds a new dimension to firms specializing in ocean bottom work. The replenishment of barrier coastal areas due to natural and storm-induced erosion is critical for protection of coastal areas. The need to maintain and expand navigable shipping channels is essential to ocean-going trade. Most investors would not think of dredging as an essential service mostly supported by the US Government. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock ( NASDAQ: GLDD ) is as unique as the unlikely Jones-Joplin duet. The result was a most unique collaboration of Raise Your Hand, one of Joplin’s concert repertoires.

Who would have dreamt of raunchy, pop singer Tom Jones matching up with rock-blues legend Janis Joplin? In late 1969, Jones, of It’s Not Unusual fame, headlined a popular tv show and asked Joplin to join him.

Great lake dredge and dock grant