Posted on May 10, 2018
By Edward Stratton, The Daily Astorian
The Port of Astoria could outsource dredging along its piers and western marina after learning its dredge might have only been removing about half as much soil out of the waterways as previously thought.
The Port uses a 46-year-old Navy surplus suction dredge, the Felkins, to keep the waterways around its piers deep enough for log, cruise and other ships to dock. The dredge works only during outgoing tides, with a hose from the dredge running into the main stem of the Columbia River to carry away sediments.
The Port still uses lead lines, an ancient method of measuring depths by lowering a line with a pointed weight at the end into the water. The Port received some unsavory news about its dredging after underwater surveying company TerraSond recently provided the agency with computerized depth reports and dredge volume estimates.
“We were dredging probably half of what we believe that we were dredging,” said Jim Knight, the Port’s executive director. “We didn’t have the evidence until we could use new bathymetry measurements.”
The efficiency of dredging has gone down with the age of equipment and the use of flow-lane disposal, said Matt McGrath, the Port’s director of operations.
Knight presented the Port Commission three options: continue operating the Felkins, buy a new dredge for around $5 million or outsource. He recommended the Port reconsider the cost of dredging in-house given the new information, and release a bid as quickly as possible to hire a private company for the dredging season between November and February.
Commissioner Bill Hunsinger, a commercial fisherman and former longshoreman, decried how much of the Port’s maintenance staff is dedicated in that four-month window to maintaining and manning the dredge instead of docks.
“This dredge we have is probably antiquated 30 years ago,” said Commissioner James Campbell, a marine tower and contractor.
Commissioner Dirk Rohne said the Port should see what sort of deals it can get on a longer-term contract, while factoring in staff time spent on the Felkins. Commissioner Robert Stevens, a retired Coast Guard captain, said some of the Port’s customers have complained of slips silting in immediately after dredging.
“These are paying customers who rent the slips, and at low tide they can’t get their boats out,” he said.
The Port Commission also agreed in a 4-1 vote to sign a letter of support for Christa Svensson, fleet manager for Jessie’s Ilwaco Fish Co. and an Oregon candidate for federal appointment to the Pacific Fisheries Management Council. Hunsinger was the lone “no” vote. The other two candidates for the council are Mariel Combs, legal counsel for ocean advocacy group Oceana, and Bob Rees, executive director of the Northwest Association of Steelheaders, Svensson said.
Source: The Daily Astorian
