For Immediate Release

August 26, 2008 - Ellicott Dredges issues mid-year report on new dredges and new factory

July was a most significant month for Ellicott Dredge Enterprises, LLC and its units Ellicott Dredges, Liquid Waste Technology, IMS, and Mud Cat.

During the month, the company opened an expansion to its new factory in Wisconsin, launched the first of four Series 4170 "Super-Dragon™" dredges for a Middle Eastern client, and received over $25MM of new orders for dredges as highlighted below.

New Plant Expansion Completed
In just four months Ellicott doubled the size of its new Wisconsin factory to 85,000 ft2 (10,000 m2). The addition has a crane capacity of 40 tons and clearance under roof of 29 ft (8.8 m), sufficient to build under roof and completely inside dredges up to 4,000 horsepower (2983 kw). This is the most modern cutter dredge manufacturing facility in the world and the largest in North America. The additional space is already filled up with dredges under construction for stock and for clients.

New facility filled with dredges and equipment for stock and clients

The plant is conveniently located just 50 miles (80 km) from Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport. Ellicott has already used the plant's new training facilities for several foreign delegations, including from Iraq and Korea.

Series 4170 "Super-Dragon™" launching
This dredge, named "EMBARKA 2", will be used to build man-made islands in the Persian Gulf off Abu Dhabi.

Record-setting $25+MM of dredge orders
During July, Ellicott and its subsidiaries achieved extraordinary results in receiving orders and definitive letters of intent from clients around the world, and for a wide variety of applications. A representative sample of the new dredge orders includes:

• Series 670 "Jet Dragon™" dredge for a sand and gravel operation in the Southwest United States, with 50 ft (15.2 m) digging depth. This follows on the successful introduction of a "Jet Dragon" employed in New Jersey by Hanson Aggregates last year. The "Jet Dragon" is an innovative and less costly alternative to a ladder pump dredge.
• Series 1870 "Dragon™" dredge 20 inch (508 mm) for a West African client.
• Custom-designed bucketwheel dredge for a mining application.
• Three IMS Model 7012 Versi-Dredges™ for a private sector Middle Eastern client to be used for irrigation purposes.
• An LWT-designed Pit Hog™ Model PH730 dredge for a waste water treatment plant for Italy.
• Automated dredge with electric PLC controls for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a water reservoir project in Washington, D.C.
• Mud Cat™ Model MC-2000 auger dredge for a South American government client.
• Two (2) "Swinging Dragon™" swinging ladder dredges – one from stock for a Canadian mining company and another for a municipality in New York State. Land and Water magazine's August 2008 issue features Ellicott's new "Swinging Dragon™" dredge in an article about a 24/7 dredging operation in a very difficult project: hard digging, tough environmental issues like turtles nesting, and very long discharge distance. Go to http://www.dredge.com/news/24_7_Dredging.pdf for the complete article.
• Series 1170 "Dragon" 16 inch (406 mm) with 1,200 HP (900 kW) installed power for a contractor in South America.

So far this year Ellicott and its units have dredge orders from 15 countries and five continents, strong evidence of the global popularity of its dredges. The company delivered over a dozen dredges in July alone.

Success factors:
Ellicott attributed its success with the new dredge orders to the following factors:

• It offers a diverse range of dredging technologies, avoiding a "one-size fits all" approach, giving customers their choice of solutions to their dredging project.
  Technological choices include:
  • diesel v. electric power
  • automated v. manually operated dredges
  • cutter choices of basket, bucketwheel, or auger
  • portable v. unit hull
  • self-propelled v. non-self-propelled.
• It is willing to offer both customized dredging solutions as well as standard products.
• It has a strong balance sheet enabling it to be flexible with payment terms offered to dredge buyers, and helps arrange financing for all qualified buyers.
• It has attractive deliveries, quicker than its competitors.
• It has the largest manufacturing capacity devoted to portable dredges of any company worldwide.

New painting system
The Liquid Waste Technology management team in Wisconsin is now using, for smaller dredges, a new powder coat paint system with a baked finish involving electrically-charged paint molecules. This improved process provides a superior finish both in function and appearance.

Ellicott's Chief Operating Officer, Marty Barnes, commented that Ellicott is on track to deliver close to 100 dredges in 2008.

Finally, Ellicott's President, Peter Bowe, noted that the company has closed a multi-million dollar term loan from a U.S. government agency, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), to finance previously announced contracts for the Government of Iraq.