Posted on September 22, 2020
The next-to-last phase of a project that will make it easier for oversized cargo ships to visit the Port of Charleston is about to begin, with the Army Corps of Engineers approving a nearly $53 million contract to dredge the Cooper River toward a new container terminal in North Charleston.
Great Lakes Dredge and Dock of Oak Bridge, Ill., announced the work this week as part of a package of contracts the company has been awarded nationwide for the second half of this year. David Simonelli, the company’s president and CEO, said the contracts are aligned with our strategy to support the overall improvement and resiliency of our country’s environment, coastlines and infrastructure.”
The Cooper River work is the fourth phase in a years-long effort to dredge Charleston Harbor to a 52-foot depth so longer, heavier ships carrying 15,000 or more cargo containers can visit the port at any time regardless of tides.
The port is scheduled to welcome such a ship — the CMA CGM Brazil, to date the largest to visit the U.S. East Coast — this weekend.
Dredging is expected to start in the fourth quarter, with completion scheduled for mid-2022. The plan calls for about 5.5 million cubic yards of material to be removed from the river’s base and placed mostly at an offshore disposal site. This section of the project will serve the port’s new Leatherman Terminal opening in March at North Charleston’s former Navy base.
Barbara Melvin, chief operating officer for the State Ports Authority, said the terminals have learned to operate efficiently during the deepening process, so she does not expect any challenges as work moves up the coast.
“We have consistently for years worked around maintenance dredging, so we have learned how to coexist,” Melvin said. “There is clear and concise communication between the harbor pilots, the tugs, us and the Army Corps contractors about where they’re working and where dredge pipes are, so it’s a very well-oiled machine at this point.”
The fourth phase of the deepening project will start at about the same time five ship-to-shore cranes are scheduled for delivery at the Leatherman Terminal. Those cranes, with 169 feet of lift height and 228 feet of outreach, will be positioned at the first of three berths to be built at the terminal and will be able to handle cargo from ships carrying 19,000 containers measured in 20-foot increments.
This latest contract follows work that began in February 2018 to dredge the harbor’s entrance channel to 54 feet while also deepening the water routes leading to the port’s terminals. All told, the $558 million dredging project — paid for with a combination of state and federal dollars — will give Charleston the deepest port on the East Coast. It’s among more than $2 billion the authority is spending on terminals and new equipment to accommodate big ships.
The fourth phase also will take place as widening continues at the Wando Welch Terminal in Mount Pleasant. In addition to dredging, the project will widen the turning basin at that terminal so 1,200-foot-long container ships can maneuver more easily.
The Charleston dredging project is already fully funded, with President Donald Trump including the final portion in his federal budget last year.
The Army Corps is expected to award a contract for the final phase of dredging, which would dig the Cooper River to 48 feet from the Leatherman Terminal to the North Charleston Terminal at the end of Remount Road. The North Charleston Terminal has been handling less cargo in recent years because many container ships are now so large they can’t squeeze under the Don Holt Bridge along Interstate 526 to get to the terminal. The bridge, which has a 160-foot clearance over the Cooper River, opened in 1992 before the advent of the modern day mega-ship.
“There is an air draft limitation, which is why that portion of the contract is only going to 48 feet,” Melvin said. “We took into account the size of ships that will be able to go there.”
The North Charleston terminal handled 222,388 cargo containers of all sizes in the port’s most recent fiscal year, which ended June 30. That’s 27 percent fewer than the previous year and just 17 percent of the port’s total volume. By contrast, nearly 1.1 million containers of all sizes moved through the Wando Welch Terminal in Mount Pleasant last fiscal year.
Source: postandcourier
