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Federal Channel News

15 Aug 2022

Donjon Marine Wins NY Dredging Work

© DANNY / Adobe Stock

New Jersey-based marine services company Donjon Marine Co. Inc., has secured a contract to perform maintenance dredging in Flushing Bay and Creek, in Queens, N.Y.Donjon Marine was one of two online bidders for the $23,970,800 contract, which was awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) New York District. Work is scheduled to be completed by October 31, 2022. The Flushing Creek, also known as Flushing River, is a waterway that flows northward through the borough of Queens in New York City…

25 Apr 2022

Oceanside Harbor Dredging Begins

In this file photo, Manson Construction Company of Seattle conducts dredging operations in Oceanside Harbor, California. (Photo: Dena O' Dell / USACE)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District began its annual dredging of the Oceanside Harbor inlet starting April 19.Manson Construction Company of Seattle is dredging the channel to its authorized federal depth of 20 feet. Dredging is expected to be completed prior to Memorial Day weekend.About 250,000 cubic yards of beach-quality sand will be removed from the harbor’s entrance channel and placed along Oceanside’s beaches. The project’s local sponsor is the City of…

20 Apr 2022

New Algorithm Could Simplify Decisions for Ship Channel Dredging

A dredging planning optimization model algorithm, developed by a data science team from the University of Houston and Rutgers weighs potential cost offsets when materials, such as sand, can be collected and repurposed. In this 2020 dredging, special equipment attached to the backhoe on the barge work boat redirected sand away from navigable areas. (Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)

A new decision-support tool could become a game changer in the dredging of ship channels. Millions of dollars are at stake every time a major ship channel is cleaned up. Delays in dredging can cost even more by triggering increased risks, repeated maintenance and lost revenue. In either case, the task cannot be put off indefinitely.All ship channels must be regularly cleared of sand, debris settled on the bottom (called shoal) and miscellaneous trash. That means ship channel management regularly faces the mighty task of dredging.

09 Feb 2022

Port Everglades Dredging Project Revised

© daniel piraino/EyeEm / Adobe Stock

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is seeking additional comments after its Jacksonville District published a Revised Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (RDSEIS) for the Port Everglades Harbor Improvements project.The RDSEIS includes additional information gained since the publication of the December 2020 Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and is being shared for additional public review and comment.The authorized plan for the Port Everglades, Fla.…

11 Jan 2021

Great Lakes Announces $60.9 Million in Dredging Contracts

(Photo: Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation)

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation on Monday announced the receipt of several major dredging awards in Georgia and Florida totaling $60.9 million which will be included in the year-end 2020 backlog number.The awarded work includes:North County Comprehensive Shore Protection Project (Coastal Protection, Florida, $21.2 million)U.S. Naval Station Mayport and Jacksonville Harbor Maintenance Dredging Project (Maintenance, Florida, $21.2 million)U.S. Naval Station Kings Bay Entrance Channel Maintenance Dredging Project (Maintenance…

02 Nov 2020

Maintenance Projects to Begin at Port Everglades

© daniel piraino/EyeEm / Adobe Stock

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will soon begin work on two important maintenance projects at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Port officials say they do not foresee any interruption of services during the construction. The South Jetty, located at the north end of Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, will be restored to its original profile and cross section. A notice to proceed was issued to the contractor in October 2020. The work is expected to begin in February 2021 and the anticipated completion date is September 2021.

10 Jun 2020

Barge Grounds in St. Marys River

(Photo: USCG Sector Sault Ste Marie)

A salvage plan is being developed to refloat a barge that went aground in the lower St. Marys River, near Sweets Point, Mich.At 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Sault Sainte Marie Command Center received notification that the 302-foot barge PML2501 towed by the 132-foot towing vessel Anglian Lady grounded in the lower St. Marys River. Both assets are Canadian and had been en route from Sault Sainte Marie, Ont. to Burns Harbor, Ind. at the time of the incident.

09 Mar 2020

Big Ship Ready Port Dredging Kicks off 2020

Photo: Weeks Marine

The end of the 2019 saw some unprecedented funding measure pass through Congress and signed into law by President Trump. The Gulf and East Coast have continued to receive significant funding to help deepen and widen navigational channels and gateways. One of the projects passed into law included the Gulf Coast Regional Demonstration Project. Some of the ports receiving funding and underway include Mobile, Baltimore, Houston, Port Everglades and Norfolk. All these projects funded by Congress draw a direct correlation to the expanded Panama Canal.

12 Dec 2017

Op/Ed: Making the Mississippi River Mightier

© Vladimir Melnikov / Adobe Stock

A plan unfolds and support grows for a 50-foot Ship Channel to support economical and efficient grain exports. The Big River Coalition remains at the heart of that collaborative effort to make the Mississippi River Mightier. In 2012, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Institute of Water Resources (IWR) released a report under the direction of Congress to document the status of U.S. Ports to accept post-panamax vessels. The report, entitled, “U.S. Port and Inland Waterways Modernization: Preparing for Post-Panamax Vessels” was officially released on June 20, 2012.

24 Sep 2017

PPP Investment in Port Tampa Bay

Port Tampa Bay approved a public-private partnership (PPP) agreement with four other entities to divvy up who will pay for a $60 million widening and extension of the Big Bend Channel. The strategic partners include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), Tampa Electric Co. and Mosaic Co., a global fertilizer company which is one of port's largest tenants along with Tampa Electric. The port's board of commissioners unanimously approved the participation agreement at a monthly meeting on Tuesday. The Big Bend Channel connects to the Tampa Harbor main channel and will be deepened from 34 feet to 43 feet and widened from 200 feet to 250 feet to accommodate larger ships.

10 Mar 2017

WRDA 2016: Reclaiming Our Transportation Infrastructure

In the United States, transportation infrastructure is the bedrock of our supply chains. Ports and waterways in the United States moved over 2.3 billion tons of goods in 2014. A robust maritime infrastructure to support such ports and waterways helps goods to move freely and aid in more flow of trade and ultimately greater economic stimulus. Port authorities and waterways commissions are always seeking better ways to increase cargo volume and subsequently aid their surrounding states and regions - which all benefit the overall commerce of our nation.

16 Jun 2016

Dredging Begins in Milford Harbor

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be dredging MIlford Harbor over the next two weeks, says a press release from Milford Mayor Ben Blake’s office. Army Corps will be using a 150-foot vessel called the Currituck, which is a special purpose dredge barge. Over the next two weeks, the crew of the Currituck will remove the silting and shoaling along the federal channel by relocating approximately 14,000 cubic yards of material to a near shore site, off of Bayview Beach. “The dredging will be at no cost to the city and will help ensure that Connecticut’s most popular recreational harbor remains safe to navigate,” said Mayor Ben Blake. Built by the Barbour Boat Works from North Carolina in 1974…

24 Dec 2015

Significant Shoaling in Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway

The U.S. Coast Guard is urging mariners to exercise caution while transiting the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW) due to shoaling conditions. Several portions of the AICW show significant shoaling, specifically those areas near mile markers 237, 271, 280 and 321 in North Carolina. There have been and continue to be groundings in these areas, the Coast Guard said. These areas are subject to continual and sometimes rapid environmental changes. Some aids to navigation on the AICW may not be charted and may be marking best water outside of the federal channel due to continually shifting shoals.

17 Oct 2014

Video: New Channel Established on Atchafalaya River

USCG photo

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) helped establish Crewboat Cut as a new federal channel in the Atchafalaya River near Morgan City, Wednesday. The new waterway is intended to be safer for mariners, will shorten travel time and save millions of dollars in annual dredging costs. Coast Guardsmen with Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team Morgan City and Coast Guard Cutter Axe constructed new channel markers in the waterway. A video discussing the new channel is available here: http://www.dvidshub.net/video/367318/coast-guard-helps-establish-new-waterway#.VEEsF2f1bgZ.

22 Apr 2014

NOAA Begins Hydrographic Survey Season

Photo courtesy of NOAA

New data will update nautical charts around the country. As sure as spring arrives, NOAA vessels and independent contractors are hitting the seas for the nation's 180th hydrographic surveying season, collecting data for over two thousand square nautical miles in high-traffic U.S. coastal waters. "Nautical charts are the foundation for the nation's maritime economy, and NOAA hydrographers spend months at sea, surveying critical areas to ensure safe navigation for the shipping, fishing, and boating communities," said Rear Admiral Gerd Glang, director of the Office of Coast Survey.

21 Mar 2014

Port Canaveral Harbor Expansion Begins

Photo: Port Canaveral

Dispute remains over who pays for maintenance costs for federal channel. The $35 million harbor widening and deepening project at Port Canaveral to allow larger ships greater safety margins for sailing in and out of the port is scheduled to begin next month with completion in November 2014. The project to widen Port Canaveral’s 400-feet wide harbor by 100 feet and deepen the entrance by two feet to 46 feet cleared the final two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permitting hurdles last week.

24 Oct 2013

AAPA Commends House for WRRDA Bill

The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA)  lauded leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, leaders of its Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee and Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) for their efforts in advancing H.R. 3080, the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA). The House passed the legislation by a vote of 417 to 3. “AAPA commends T & I Committee Chairman (Bill) Shuster (R-PA), Ranking Member (Nick) Rahall (D-WV)…

28 Aug 2013

Texas Dredging Contract Awarded by DofD

US Department of Defense, Army, has awarded a contract to Inland Dredging Co. for dredging of the of the Neches River Channel in Jefferson and Orange Counties, Texas. Inland Dredging Co., LLC, Dyersburg, Tenn., was awarded a firm-fixed-price, non-option, non-multi-year contract of $12,747,180 for the dredging of approximately 3,537,000 cubic yards from the federal channel and approximately 80,000 cubic yards from the non-federal channel of the Neches River Channel in Jefferson and Orange Counties, Texas. Performance location will be Port Arthur, Texas with funding from fiscal 2013 Operations and Maintenance Army funds. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Galveston District, Galveston, Texas is the contracting activity (W9126G-13-C-0042).

02 Jul 2012

AAPA: MAP-21 Passage is Forward Progress

America’s Ports, Freight System Recognized in MAP-21 Surface Transportation Bill Reauthorization. With congressional passage today of MAP-21 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century), the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) says elements in the two-year, $105 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill elevate the priority of freight movement in a way that constitutes major progress in recognizing the value of America’s seaports and freight network to the economy, jobs creation and business development.

05 Oct 2009

Oxnard Harbor District Wins Honor

The American Association of Port Authorities has given an award of excellence to the Port of Hueneme Oxnard Harbor District for its extraordinary cooperative project to clean sediment from the harbor floor. Crafted through a partnership between the Oxnard Harbor District, U.S. Navy and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Port of Hueneme Confined Aquatic Disposal (CAD) Facility project is an example of a harbor-wide contaminated sediment management strategy that provided a complete solution to the needs of all three project proponents. Located approximately 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles, the Port of Hueneme is the only deep-water port between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area and is the United States Port of Entry for California's central coast region.

20 Nov 2003

Congress Approves More than $130M for Port of NY/NJ Projects

Critical channel-deepening and environmental projects at the Port of New York and New Jersey will continue to advance under a funding bill approved this week by Congress. The deeper channels will allow new, larger ships to enter the harbor, maintaining the port’s competitive edge as the leading port on the east coast of North America. The fiscal year 2004 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill, which funds U.S. Army Corps of Engineers civil works projects, includes $110 million for channel-deepening projects in the port. The funding will allow for the continuation of federal channel-deepening projects under construction in the Kill van Kull-Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill and Port Jersey channels.

18 Dec 2003

News:Congress Approves More than $130M for Port of NY/NJ Projects

Critical channel-deepening and environmental projects at the Port of New York and New Jersey will continue to advance under a funding bill approved this week by Congress. The deeper channels will allow new, larger ships to enter the harbor, maintaining the port's competitive edge as the leading port on the east coast of North America. The fiscal year 2004 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill, which funds U.S. Army Corps of Engineers civil works projects, includes $110 million for channel-deepening projects in the port. The funding will allow for the continuation of federal channel-deepening projects under construction in the Kill van Kull-Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill and Port Jersey channels.

15 Jan 2004

Freeport Harbor Improvement Project Meeting to be Held at Port

Representatives of Port Freeport will meet with a delegation of Congressional staffers and representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to tour the Port and discuss the viability of the Freeport Harbor Improvement Project that includes the plan to deepen the federal channel up to 60 feet and widen it up to 600 feet. Thus far, Port Freeport has received wide-spread, bi-partisan support for this critical project from the Texas delegation as well as the Governor's office of Federal Affairs in Washington. At 60 feet, Port Freeport will be the deepest-draft port on the Gulf of Mexico. Project plans will also include the feasibility of widening the Port’s Jetty and Entrance Channel to accommodate larger vessels and two-way vessel traffic.