Pearl Harbor is one of four naval shipyards across the country. The Navy is spending an estimated $3.4 billion to modernize a dry dock to accommodate a new class of nuclear submarines that will be stationed in Hawaiʻi.
The new Dry Dock 5 will replace Dry Dock 3, which cannot hold current Virginia-class submarines that require a deeper and wider dock.
Over the next couple of days, The Conversation will dive into the largest construction project in Navy history.
The Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company, with Dragados and Orion Government Services, was awarded the contract in 2023.
Roy Morioka, the project manager for the joint venture, said they will need lots of construction workers, concrete and steel. He said the project is expected to be completed around September 2027.
"Ultimately, at the very peak in 2026, we're going to need a total of more than 600 craft workers and that'll consist of laborers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, operators, iron workers, masons and a whole lot more people," Morioka said.
He said the project has a labor agreement with various local unions. But with other large local projects in the works such as the Honolulu rail and the Lahaina rebuild, the dry dock project could compete for the same skilled workers.
"Timing is going to be very important. Fortunately, our project is underway. And we're going to be able to have our workforce here. And we are in communication with the various unions, as well as our subcontractors have their crews and their communication to unions to assure that we have sufficient workers on this project," Morioka said.
As for construction materials, Morioka said the project anticipates needing more than 250,000 cubic yards of concrete.
"We are going to have a batch plant on site, so we could schedule the deliveries of the raw materials during non-peak travel time. So that should help alleviate traffic," he said.
The project also has a staging area at the Waipiʻo Peninsula and will ferry supplies across the harbor, less than a mile away.
Workers will bused in from a parking lot at Aloha Stadium.
This story aired on The Conversation on March 20, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. Sophia McCullough adapted this story for the web.
