Posted on February 18, 2025
The lack of progress on planned dredging work at the Brunswick Harbor by the Army Corps of Engineers is raising questions by U.S. Sens. Jon Offoff and Raphael Warnock, the state’s voices in the U.S. Senate.
The two Democrats have sent a letter to Corps leadership expressing “alarm over the Corps’ failure to dredge the Brunswick Harbor in a timely manner.”
“The Corps’ failure to execute a basic mission with ample funding provided by Congress raises serious concerns about the Corps’ ability to effectively execute such projects in future years,” according to the letter the senators wrote.
The Port of Brunswick is a key driver of Georgia’s economy, supporting thousands of jobs, they said.
During the State of the Port presentation Wednesday at the Jekyll Island Convention Center, Griff Lynch, president and CEO of the Georgia Ports Authority, said the Port of Brunswick is now the nation’s busiest port for autos and heavy equipment.
He said even larger cargo ships capable of holding more than 10,000 vehicles are being built, which will make the port even busier.
The state has allocated more than $6 million for special harbor improvements with the allocation going to the Army Corps of Engineers as Georgia’s share of the project costs, he said. The Corps’ plan includes a bend widener and expansion of the turning basin. An expanded vessel meeting area at St. Simons Sound will improve safety for vessels passing each other in two-way traffic.
Last year, Ossoff and Warnock helped procure $15 million through the U.S. Department of Transportation to help upgrade infrastructure at the Port of Brunswick — improving operations, creating economic opportunities, and strengthening Georgia’s supply chains.
In 2022, Sens. Ossoff and Warnock’s Port of Brunswick Navigation Channel Improvement Act was signed into law to help authorize upgrades to the port’s navigation channel.
“The Port of Brunswick is vital to Georgia’s economic growth and is poised to become the Nation’s busiest automotive port in the near future,” they wrote. “The sustained success and future expansion of port operations relies on timely and effective dredging of the harbor.”
