New Dry Dock Project at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Reaches Early Milestone

From Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Public Affairs, Feb. 16, 2024 

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii – Dragados/Hawaiian Dredging/Orion JV (DHO JV), under contract with Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC), has begun major in-water construction for a new dry dock at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY & IMF).  

Dry Dock 5 construction commenced after a traditional Hawaiian blessing ceremony on Aug. 19, 2023, and the project has reached the milestone of starting the installation of foundational piles that will essentially anchor the new graving dock.  

The Navy will commemorate this significant, early-phase construction milestone at the Dry Dock 5 Anchoring Ceremony scheduled for Feb. 24, 2024, at 10 a.m. at PHNSY.  

U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono, Adm. Samuel Paparo, Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, and Gerry Majkut, president of Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company, Inc., are scheduled to speak at the ceremony.  

“This milestone is a testament to the hard work various organizations have put into the project and a reminder of the steadfast commitment to our community here in Hawai’i,” said Capt. Richard Jones, PHNSY & IMF commander.  

The $3.4-billion graving dock project will support PHNSY’s ability to continue maintaining and modernizing the U.S. Navy’s nuclear-powered submarines into the future. It will include the necessary support facilities and the new dry dock will have a 150-year service life. Dry Dock 5 will replace Dry Dock 3, one of four existing dry docks at PHNSY & IMF. Dry Dock 3 is the smallest dry dock and is incapable of docking the current Virginia-class of Navy submarines. The last dry dock to be constructed in Pearl Harbor was in 1943.  

To oversee the project, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) commissioned its newest command, Officer in Charge of Construction, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard (OICC PHNSY) in March 2023. OICC PHNSY provides robust quality assurance, contract administration, and command-level accountability for construction of DD5 and the broader once-in-a-generation recapitalization of PHNSY under the Navy’s Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP).  

“Setting the conditions for full-scale construction on a project of this magnitude took a robust team of professionals in both government and industry,” said OICC PHNSY Commanding Officer Capt. Stephen Padhi. “Logistics, permits, monitoring, site preparation, work planning and controls had to set the stage for production for the next four years. As major activities are underway, we look forward to confidently meeting our targets for schedule, quality, safety, cost, and ethics.”  

Leading the construction is contractor DHO JV. “We’re extremely excited to work on a project of this scale with the U.S. Navy,” said Gerry Majkut, president of Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company, Inc. “Not many companies get the chance to be part of a major project like this, so having the opportunity to build this dry dock is extremely rewarding.”  

Over the course of construction, which is scheduled to finish in 2027, DHO JV expects to draw from many local and small businesses in Hawaii to support the project, in close coordination with local unions. Overall, the project is expected to provide approximately 2,500 jobs locally.