Posted on February 12, 2020
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday requested $93.6 million in federal funding during the next fiscal year to keep the expansion of Savannah’s busy shipping channel on track.
The figure was included in the release of Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal 2021, which begins Oct. 1. Congress will have the final say on how much money the project receives.
Trump’s request would fund another full year of the dredging project, Georgia Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler said in a statement issued jointly with GOP Rep. Buddy Carter.
The Army Corps of Engineers in overseeing a $973 million deepening of the stretch of the Savannah River that connects the Port of Savannah to the Atlantic Ocean. Completion is scheduled for the end of the 2021 calendar year. Like other East Coast seaports, Savannah is deepening its channel to make room for larger cargo ships now arriving through the expanded Panama Canal.
Savannah has the nation’s fourth-busiest port for containerized cargo — goods from consumer electronics to frozen chickens shipped in large metal boxes. Savannah’s port handled 4.6 million container units, it’s largest total ever, in calendar 2019.
Source: chron.com
