Posted on January 19, 2017
By Dave Berman, Florida Today
Port Canaveral commissioners on Wednesday will consider the next step in what could be up to a 10-year process to deepen the port’s channel to handle larger cargo ships.
Port staff is recommending commissioners approve spending nearly $1.4 million on two related projects:
– $998,687 would go to the firm CH2M and its subcontractors for additional engineering support services for what the port is calling a “21st-century harbor deepening feasibility study project.” Some of this money is in the port’s capital budget, and the rest would be reallocated from money remaining from a west cargo area deepening project that came in under budget.
– About $400,000 would go to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for review and coordination of that project. Money for that work is in the port’s current capital budget.
Port Canaveral Environmental Director Bob Musser Jr. said the next phase will focus on how deep the channel dredging should go, partly based on a “cost-benefit analysis” that will include work by the Army Corps of Engineers
The channel now is at 44 feet deep, and the port is considering a 47-foot or 48-foot depth, Musser said.
The port also is considering extending the current entrance channel by 2 to 2.7 miles farther into the ocean to accommodate the deeper channel.
Port Canaveral Chief Executive Officer John Murray said the deepening project would be largely for the benefit of cargo ships.
Murray said the deepest clearance needed for ships that currently use the port is 40 feet, for a Martin Marietta cargo ship that carries pulverized granite and lime rock. The deepest clearance needed by any cruise ship in operation is about 35 feet.
Deepening the port’s channel would “keep us competitive” with the other major Florida ports, which generally have channel depths of 43 to 50 feet, Murray said.
While previous Port Canaveral officials at one time were considering targeting a channel depth of 55 feet or more, Murray said the port now is “looking at what’s realistic,” based on the port’s anticipated ship and commodity traffic, rather than hoping for some of the largest cargo ships to make Port Canaveral a stop in the future.
Murray said Port Canaveral does not have the cargo traffic that would support a more costly channel deepening, beyond the 47 or 48 feet currently being considered.
“It’s a target for where we need to be for the longer term,” said Murray. “It’s just a common-sense approach to how we grow the port,” rather spending more money to deepen to 55 feet “for ships that aren’t coming any time soon — or ever.”
Not only does additional dredging depth cost more, but it also increases the cost of reinforcing cruise and cargo berths and other infrastructure along the shore of the channel.
In a memo to port commissioners, Musser wrote: “It was concluded that significantly increasing the channel depth would make the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval very difficult, and by reducing the maximum target depth to a more realistic, market-driven depth, the project would likely still capture significant benefits, while reducing the overall costs and would be much more acceptable by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.”
Murray and Musser said the cost of the channel deepening project is still to be determined. They said it could take as long as a decade to complete, considering the time for studies, design and engineering work, as well as to line up federal and state money to help pay for the project.
Construction is not likely to start until the early-to-mid-2020s, with a construction phase of at least 4½ years.
Source: Florida Today
