Posted on August 14, 2024
On Tuesday, the Virgin Islands Port Authority hosted its “Industry Day,” where it provided details about the upcoming Charlotte Amalie Harbor dredging project. Held virtually and in person, the brief meeting catered to marine, dredging, and general contractors who might be interested in bidding for the project.
Last month, the Port Authority announced that they would begin dredging the Charlotte Amalie Harbor to accommodate large-sized cruise ships. The project will be funded with $17 million from the V.I. Public Finance Authority via legislation submitted by Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. and $1.5 million from the Community Facilities Trust Fund.
Preston Breyer, director of engineering for the Port Authority, said that the project “Has an end goal of being able to facilitate larger cruise vessels hauling to Havensight, Yacht Haven, with the West Indian Company dock.” He added, “The majority of you are aware that the tourism industry is critical to the Virgin Islands and this is really an essential project that we’re looking forward to getting out and moving.”
West Indian Company CEO Anthony Ottley, said that “It’s important to get this project out as soon as possible as we’ve been trying to get this done for quite some time.” He added, “Losing one ship, the amount of money that we lose with even a ship, there is a lot of potential for additional revenue. Even as far as the cruise lines are concerned, they continue to build bigger and bring more people to the territory. So we need to be in a position where we can accommodate, especially [if] the Virgin Islands is their plan A. I would hate for them to go to a Plan B or a Plan C.”
Mark Sabino, marine director at WICO, added that there is a “more critical reason we need this dredging done. We’re actually losing the channel and the existing traffic is threatened.”
Kristen Ewart, dredge lead design with Moffat & Nichol, a company that provides engineering and consulting services, provided a presentation to participants outlining the scope of the “clamshell dredging effort” project.
The project will be split into three dredging areas- the main channel, the turning basin, and the berth pocket. The main channel contains “beach quality material,” which will be temporarily transported to the Addelita Cancryn Jr. High School by Sub Base. The turning basin and berth pocket both contain non-beach material that will be taken and offloaded at the Molasses dock in St. Croix and then transported to a quarry site at the Henry E. Rohlsen airport.
Map of the main channel, turning basin, and berth pocket that will be dredged at WICO. (Screenshot from Industry Day presentation)
She added that in order to house material at ACJHS, demolition of structures that once served as the school will have to occur.
“There are a few facilities that are going to remain, so it’s not a total demolition of the entire school footprint. It is a partial demolition,” said Ewert.
Further, Ewert added that while the project is ongoing, work on the main channel and turning basin can only occur during daylight hours, while work on the berthing pocket can occur around the clock for 24 hours.
“The dredging activities cannot and will not be permitted to obstruct inbound or outbound vessel traffic transiting through the dredge area,” said Ewert.
In total, 216,500 cubic yards of dredged material will be removed from all three sites.
Additionally, Ewert mentioned environmental protections would be in place, such as double turbidity curtains to enclose and dredge scows, avoiding ESA-protected species, water quality monitoring, and anchoring restrictions implemented. Maintenance dredging at the Yacht Haven Grande will also occur in conjunction with the WICO harbor dredging.
“The goal here is to make sure that the Yacht Haven Grande Marina is able to accommodate the vessels that come in and berth at its facilities,” said Ewert.
About 32,760 cubic yards of material will be removed from Yacht Haven. There will be three areas dredged. The dredging depth will be 25 feet, 16 feet, and 18 feet in the areas, respectively.
When asked about the $17 million budget for the project, Breyer responded that “This is a publicly procured project, that’s the information, this is why we’re having this, this is why we’re putting this out to bid so that we can understand the market and we’ll respond and react accordingly.”
Currently, the dredging project aims to provide a controlling depth of 12.1 meters (40 feet) in the main channel, 11.5 meters (38 feet) in the turning basin, and 10.9 meters (36 feet) at the West Indian Company (WICO) berths to accommodate larger vessels.
