Posted on August 18, 2020
A dock in Benton Harbor has a new owner, with new plans to increase the use of it.
On Wednesday Rieth-Riley Construction Co. announced they bought a spot in Benton Harbor that they’ll use as a key part of transporting their materials.
Having the option to do this by water is much cheaper than over land.
Central Dock in Benton Harbor has sat peacefully, relatively unused for the last 3 years.
On Wednesday the sounds of construction machinery were drowning out the seagulls as Rieth-Riley prepared to receive loads of cement and limestone from Ontario next Friday.
“I am very happy to do this,” said Jack Kinney, previous owner of the dock. “I hope my dad is happy too.”
Kinney’s family has owned central dock for 85 years but finalized the sale to Reith Riley this month. They wouldn’t say how much the dock was sold for.
“This reflects on the entire community of southwest Michigan to have this business, and it saves thousands of dollars to bring this material in by water rather than trains,” said Kinney.
Rieth-Riley says the dollars saved will help them give lower prices on their projects — many of which the government pays for.
Rieth-Riley is subcontracted to do the concrete for the completion of the US-31 to I-94 project just miles from the dock.
That connection — scheduled to finish in 2022 — would mean cars won’t have to get off the freeway and drive through the streets to get between the two major highways.
That would hopefully lead to fewer crashes, too.
Congressman Fred Upton made an appearance to tout another surprising benefit of increased commerce at the dock — it makes his job easier when asking the Army Corps of Engineers for money to dredge the harbor.
“Quite frankly there is never enough money in the Corps budget for dredging in the Great Lakes, so they have a pecking order and it is based on commercial tonnage,” said Upton.
Every year silt and sand from the rivers that feed into the harbor build up and need to be cleared out.
“If we don’t make the cut then it comes out of their pockets, they’ve got to pay for the whole thing,” said Upton. “This is a commercial harbor. If they don’t get it done, then it limits the ships that we can bring in.”
Not getting the harbor dredged with federal funds, he said, would just add to the cost of construction in our area. And a deeper river also helps the recreational boats in the area, too.
Source: wsbt
