The ACS Group, led by its Dragados subsidiary, has been selected by the Navy to build a concrete dry dock for 2,840 million dollars (about 2,700 million dollars) at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam in Hawaii, the US Department of Public Defense announced today Friday. The Pentagon contract also contains some optional items, the implementation of which will raise the budget to $3.417 million. The work is expected to be completed in 2027.
Local companies Hawaii Dredging and Orion Vicar are also participating in the contract. This project represents the first major construction contract awarded under the 8 billion dollar program for naval improvement works in Hawaii and Washington state, in which Dragados will continue to participate as one of five teams selected by the Navy from the United States of America 2011. The Pentagon has been told it will choose a consortium led by Dragados with other Canadian and US competitors, including Bechtel, ECC Infrastructure; and TPC-NAN JV.
Company sources interviewed about the contract indicate that Dragados has been working closely with the Navy since 2021 through a collaboration agreement to develop innovative methods and techniques for the project. The Dragados team was chosen to build this dry dock that will serve the future of nuclear submarines.
“This major project reinforces the ACS group’s commitment to US federal government projects, differentiates its portfolio of large projects in North America, and further strengthens its global experience in the execution of large and complex maritime infrastructure partnerships.”
Approved funding for the program is $463 million in the current fiscal year, $1.267 million in fiscal 2024, according to the Department of Defense; 613 million in 2025 and 498 million in 2026, not counting the possibility of extending the contract through three options.
The United States has emerged as the main hot water market. In 2022, it generated an income of 18,837 million euros in the country, 27% more than the previous year and 56% of the total turnover of the group, according to the recent balance sheet presented.
In 2022, ACS has been awarded the construction of the light rail line in the country, from Bethesda to New Carrollton, Maryland, with an estimated cost of 1.3 billion dollars, by Dragados USA. In addition, the Company, through its Pulice subsidiary, was awarded a contract for approximately $660 million for the expansion and improvement of IH35 highway in Travis County, Texas. The same subsidiary purchased a 12.2-mile toll road in Hidalgo County, Texas, for approximately $250 million.
Picone was awarded a €338 million contract last year to install a joint retaining wall and develop barriers to protect infrastructure and flood risk from Brooklyn to Montgomery Street in New York. Flatiron, also a subsidiary of the group, was awarded a project to improve the safety of the chemical and disinfection system of the water treatment plant in Orinda, California, for 267 million. Turner was awarded a $225 million contract to build a new Health Education building on the University of Kentucky’s Lexington campus.
With these and many other smaller activities carried out by different subsidiaries, ACS’ portfolio in the United States will fall to 33,504 million coins at the end of 2022, half of the entire group.
So far this year, the group has won large contracts in the country, including the construction of a manufacturing plant for Panasonic electric vehicles in De Soto, Kansas, in a project that mobilizes a total investment of 4,000 million dollars. at the current exchange rate).
This contract corresponds to Turner, the main subsidiary of ACS in the region, which also announced in February that it will build a 725 million dollar manufacturing plant for pharmaceuticals in Frederick (north of Denver, Colorado). Earlier this year, Turner also completed a $73 million residence hall in British Columbia, Canada, and another $85 million building on the Fort Worth campus in Texas, both in partnership with other companies. Construction began earlier this year on a $300 million water park in Mashantucket, Connecticut.
