Posted on May 24, 2016
Work is underway to dig out the shipping port at St. Joseph and Benton Harbor.
Compared to past years, harbor workers say right now, conditions are favorable and they’ve moved thousands of tons this month.
A dredging crew from Sault St. Marie, arrived last night to begin digging some of the sand deposits in the outer harbor.
Earlier this month, congressman Fred Upton announced federal funding for nearly $1 million to help pay for the work.
The dredging helps ensure heavy barges can easily move in and out of the port, carrying gravel, rock and salt used for major road construction projects around Michigan.
“They’ll go as fast as they can go. The only thing that’ll knock them off will be the completion of the job or weather. A little bit of a wind to a hydraulic dredge is a big deal because of the nature of how it operates. Any rough water will push the unit off the water,” Dock 63 president Pete Berghoff said.
The sand dug from the dredging will be deposited along the banks near homes not far from Silver Beach.
Berghoff says dredging on the inner harbor will have to wait until the salmon spawn restriction ends July 6th.
Berghoff says he plans to load an average of two barges a month this season which carry around 34 thousand tons
Source: WNDU
