Big River Coalition’s E.D. honoured for decades of maritime leadership

Sean M. Duffy Sr., the Big River Coalition’s executive director, has received the International Propeller Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his exceptional contributions to the maritime industry. The recognition was presented during the organization’s annual convention in Lyon, France, and highlights a career dedicated to maritime leadership and collaboration in improving both economic growth and environmental restoration along the Mississippi River.

Duffy’s vision and persistence were instrumental in realizing the Mississippi River Ship Channel deepening project, which increased the channel depth from 45 to 50 feet (13.7 to 15.2 metres). The project has transformed navigation on the Lower Mississippi by facilitating additional cargo on vessels per trip, significantly reducing the number of voyages required and lowering overall emissions.

The beneficial reuse of the project’s dredged material to nourish existing wetlands in South Louisiana and to create new land also provided a clear example of how infrastructure work can support ecosystem health.

Maria Conatser, the Club’s outgoing president, called Duffy as a unifying force within the maritime community. “The pilots, the port directors, the dredging contractors, the shipping lanes, the engineers, the Corps of Engineers and the environmental agencies all learned that Sean Duffy was the one person who could speak every dialect of the maritime world,” she said. “Operational, political and technical. He became the translator between mariners and policy makers, between those that built the channels and those that sailed them.”