USACE Awards Contract to Build Strategic Harbor at Nome, Alaska

 

After a slow start, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a contract to begin construction on a revamp of the harbor at Nome, Alaska, the first stage of a plan to turn it into a deepwater home port for the U.S. Coast Guard. 

At 64.5 degrees north, Nome is just shy of the Arctic Circle and just 100 nautical miles southeast of the Bering Strait. It has strategic relevance in a region with an increasing Russian and Chinese presence. But its utility is limited by its infrastructure: Currently, the port's outer basin depth limits traffic to vessels with a draft of no more than 18 feet - far too shallow for most commercial and military vessels. 

In 2011, the USACE launched a multiyear study on improvements to the port, and it recommended deepening the harbor to 28 feet. That study was paused in 2015 after the cancellation of Shell's Arctic drilling program, which removed the economic justification for creating a deepwater port on the Bering Sea. The process was rebooted in 2016, and four years later, the port published a plan to deepen the harbor's maximum depth to 40 feet and enlarge it with new causeways and piers. The estimated project cost came to about $660 million; once federal funding was in hand, the Corps went about soliciting bids for construction. All of the bids came in too high, the Corps said in 2024, and the agency decided to cancel its contract solicitation. 

This month, the Corps announced that it has awarded a $399 million contract to a sole bidder to pay for the first phase of the project only. This phase - funded by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act - covers the construction of one 1,200-foot causeway, and will add one new berth face. The main dredging operation is scheduled next in Phase 2, which will be bid out separately. 

“A robust and efficient transportation hub at Nome is foundational to the long-term viability of surrounding communities in the region,” said Col. Jeffrey Palazzini, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Alaska District in a statement. “We are committed to assisting the City of Nome by providing a reliable solution that improves the port’s navigation efficiency.” 

Once completed, a 40-foot harbor basin would have the depth needed to accommodate the U.S. Coast Guard's interim icebreaker, USCGC Storis (ex name Aiviq), as well as its anticipated Polar Security Cutter heavy icebreaker. For years, the service's small icebreaking fleet has been homeported in Seattle, where there is access to a full-size shipyard and a marine industrial supply chain. But Seattle is 1,800 nautical miles away from the Bering Strait, and forces based there cannot react quickly to developments in the Arctic.