Posted on January 26, 2021
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is already hard at work dredging the Mississippi River to a depth of 50 feet.
The dredging is being performed to allow super-sized ships called Panamax and Post-Panamax vessels to make their way up the Big Muddy as far as Baton Rouge—as long as they fit under bridge crossings.
The Corps of Engineers is expecting to pick up nearly $46 million dollars to finish the project.
According to the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate, the money was approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget in the last days of the Trump administration.
This new injection of cash will supplement the $85-million already approved in 2020 for the dredging.
At a cost of $238-million, the state of Louisiana is kicking in $100-million of its own money.
$39-million for the dredging, 80-million for moving pipelines and utilities.
Panamax ships carrying an enormous amount of containers will boost the economy of the nation by $127-million dollars annually.
That’s against a maintenance cost of just $17.7-million to ensure the deeper channel doesn’t become clogged with silt.
At Venice, the channel into the river is being overdredged down to 54-feet so it will take more time before silt dredging is needed to be performed.
The 256-mile project involves 15 of the nation’s largest ports in terms of tonnage handled.
Already, the Port of New Orleans is getting ready for the super-sized container carriers.
They’re looking to build a $1.5-billion container terminal on 1,100 acres in Violet in anticipation of Panamax ships paying a call in New Orleans.
Source: radio
