Posted on September 21, 2017
By Robert McCabe, The Virginian-Pilot
Deeper, wider, safer. Or wider, deeper, safer.
Either way, you get the idea.
They’ve been the port community’s mantras for years and now it looks like the vision is a little closer to becoming a reality.
A rough draft of a plan backed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recommends that the port be allowed to dredge its main shipping channels to 55 feet, down from 50 feet, and to widen them to 1,200 feet from 1,000.
Some channels – such as the Thimble Shoal Channel and the Atlantic Ocean Channel – would go even deeper, to 56 feet and 59 feet, respectively.
If it all works out as planned, the Port of Virginia would have shipping channels deeper and wider than those now used at the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest port in the nation, where the channels are 53 feet deep and the main channel about 1,000 feet wide.
“This is the artist’s sketch for that real masterpiece that’s going to be painted,” said John Reinhart, executive director and CEO of the Virginia Port Authority, in comments between sessions Tuesday at a yearly “navigational summit” focused on optimizing the port’s shipping channels.
“The lines are on the paper; we know where we’re going; and now we just have to finish the full piece. It’s a great step.”
More than 100 port stakeholders attended the summit, the 12th consecutive year that the event has been held. It’s an industry update on the status of the push to deepen and widen the port’s channels that this year included the unveiling of what’s known as a “tentatively selected plan milestone” – in this case, two of them.
Its significance was underscored by the presence of two congressmen, Reps. Bobby Scott and Scott Taylor, along with an array of port, Army Corps and other military officials.
Another project, to deepen sections of the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, got the Corps of Engineers’ go-ahead to dredge portions of the waterway to anywhere from 44 feet to 38-39 feet, from roughly 40 feet and 35 feet.
Port officials had sought the OK to dredge to 45 feet in some areas, which it can still do, though local funds would pay for the extra foot of depth.
The so-called “55-foot project” is projected to cost between $266 million and $324 million and be split 50-50 between the federal and state government.
The “Southern Branch project” is expected to cost between $130 million and $140 million, with the federal government paying 75 percent and the state paying 25 percent.
Both projects will now enter a period of intensive review through the chain of command at the Corps of Engineers.
The hope is that a formal, final recommendation would be made to Congress by the end of next year, which would then have to reauthorize the 55-foot project and include it in future Water Resources Development Act legislation.
The port has had congressional authorization to dredge to 55 feet since 1986. The Corps of Engineers had to review the project again, however, to determine optimum depths and widths based on current traffic.
“Now the focus is on funding and implementation,” Reinhart said.
Source: The Virginian-Pilot
