Given the diverse needs and requirements, you could come up with countless job descriptions for divers across the maritime industry. Those descriptions would range from ones that center on tasks relating to performing underwater inspections to ones specific to salvage operations to ones focused on maintenance work. No matter the specifics, any of these descriptions would be connected to the essence of this type of work, which stems from divers being blue-collar tradesmen who work underwater. More than any other sector, inland divers epitomizes this spirit.
Unlike offshore oil and gas divers, many inland divers will spend a career without ever needing to complete their dive in a decompression chamber. These divers will typically spend multiple hours in the water, every single day, performing simple tasks like welding and burning but also more involved ones like building pile jackets or performing engineering-grade inspections. Due to the range of needs and tasks, many professional divers also support boat operations, heavy equipment handling, and topside welding.
This range and scope of work highlights why the largest inland dive contractors typically require their divers to be able to do much more than dive. The divers at Orion Marine Group, Underwater Engineering Services Inc. and Ballard Marine Construction stand out as examples of what this support from inland dive operators looks like on a practical level, all of which stems from the blue-collar tradesmen spirit they represent.
Orion Marine Group
While it’s not especially common, large marine construction companies have been known to start dive divisions. This happens when the work coming to these construction companies is recognized as an opportunity to offer services that line up with the needs of the larger market and for specific customers. That’s exactly what happened at Orion Group Holding LLC in 1998 with the company’s creation of Orion Diving and Salvage.
Mark Carreon and Doug Rubino served as the primary drivers, while this offshoot extension of the larger company joined the Association of Diving Contractors International in 1999. It was a development that allowed Orion Diving and Salvage to provide subsea support to the marine construction division while independently completing external projects valued at $1 million or less. That work has increased and grown over the last few years, which is a result of the expertise and dedication of the company and crew.
"We have a backlog of work for 2025 and some promising opportunities are on the horizon,” said Carreon, the Area Manager and Head of Diving with Orion Marine Group. “I’m optimistic about the future and the direction we're headed and am fortunate to be surrounded by a great group of people."
The magic really happens at Orion when the dive and marine construction divisions sync up to tackle large-scale projects. For Orion and their dive team, this means completing high-profile, high-revenue, turnkey lump-sum projects like the removal of an almost 300-foot-long train trestle for the Port of Corpus Christi in 2005.
The trestle had been sitting at the bottom of the water for almost 40 years and was partially buried in sediment as a result. To get it out, the Orion divers utilized every trick in the diving handbook: jetting out piles, jackhammering rigging points, setting up diamond wire cable, and then rigging the sections into parts that could be lifted via a heavy lift crane barge and subsequently demolished by the shoreside crew. It was the highest-profile project for the divers up to that point and was completed without an HSE incident.
Today, Orion is a publicly traded company and one of the nation’s largest marine contractors. The divers work within regional divisions yet are managed as a separate dive division, which has more than held its own, generating over $35 million in total revenue for 2023. Orion divers are busy with several ongoing projects, including the rehabilitation of the Nashville Wharf in the Port of New Orleans, long-term wharf inspections in Newport News, Virginia, pipeline burial in the Houston Ship Channel, as well as ongoing call-out services supporting the marine construction teams.
Ballard Marine Construction
Ballard Marine Construction was founded by Shilo and Jesse Hutton in 2001 as North West Underwater Construction with the intent to provide a higher level of technical service to the inland and near coastal infrastructure markets.
Initially, the market was dominated by regional contractors focused solely on diving services. Seeing this gap in the market and the need for an industry partner that could engage earlier with clients and provide value-added feedback during the design/build phase, the Huttons embraced an Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) approach resulting in rapid growth. Through organic expansion and strategic acquisitions, North West Underwater Construction transformed from a Pacific Northwest contractor into Ballard Marine Construction, LLC and began operating on a national scale.
As clients began requesting Ballard to take on more complex, large-scale projects, the Huttons sought a strategic partner that shared Ballard’s operational approach: people-based, with a modus operandi that is predicated on safe and cost-efficient turnkey solutions. In Traylor Bros., Inc., a family-owned business with a history of excellence in heavy civil and underground construction, they found the perfect match.
"Our core philosophy is ‘People First,’” Jesse Hutton told WorkBoat.com. “By prioritizing the success and well-being of our team, we ensure that we deliver the best value to our clients. Ballard’s success is rooted in the dedication and passion of our people-everything good about our company comes from them.”
Today, as part of the Traylor Construction Group, Ballard can capitalize on combined resources and offer subsea marine construction services in a broader scope which includes heavy civil engineering and tunneling. Ballard is also providing essential services while maintaining their initial specialized focus on inland and coastal infrastructure, such as repair and scheduled maintenance of hydroelectric structures and dams.
2024 has been a busy year, and the 2025 forecast looks much the same. Ballard is working on projects along the Southeast Coast, Upper Mid-West, and throughout the West Coast.
UESI
Underwater Engineering Services Inc. (UESI) represents the intellectual side of the inland dive business. A global leader in the field of nuclear diving and infrastructure inspection, UESI has carried over the meticulous nature associated with the nuclear field into other projects with great success. However, that success is also connected to a more fundamental philosophy defined by UESI President Ken Griffin.
“Always remember that paper makes good friends,” Griffin said. “Write it down, make it clear and business deals will be far easier. Those relationships you've spent a lifetime building should never be at risk.”
Founded in 1977 as S.G. Pinney & Associates Inc., the company began as an engineering firm that provided inspection and testing services for the power industry. In April of 1997, Greenman Pedersen Inc. invested in the company and UESI was born. The technical sophistication of the projects that they took on allowed the organization to develop a reputation that requires talent beyond menial tasks. That expertise is why UESI is currently working on international projects in Japan and West Africa while also managing the market that they have developed over the last four decades.
Those projects benefit from the experience of the entire USEI team. It's experience that can be seen across the company and goes all the way up to Griffin, who has an engineering background but began his diving career as a tender working offshore in 1994. After he “broke out,” he dove on both offshore and inland construction projects. His career path then took a turn into consultation, where he would travel to job sites to represent the company’s interest and ensure the safe and timely progression of the project by the dive teams. That experience formed the approach he takes with leadership of the entire organization which is focused on clear parameters as part of a project that cultivates trust on every side.
This philosophy works well with UESI and its customers. Their customers appreciate how UESI supervisors work closely with our clients to ensure project goals and steps are identified, risks are evaluated and the criteria for success are identified and met. The UESI staff and crew take pride in being regarded as true diving professionals.
That pride is reflected all of these organizations as well as others like Mainstream Divers, InDepth Commercial Diving Services and other inland divers that work in every port from Texas to Kentucky and beyond. They are the multi-skilled, handyman generalists of the diving industry whose blue collar approach resonates with clients and to an entire industry.
