Port of Cleveland Urges USACE to Start Dredging

To avoid significant financial losses to the port and local economy, dredging the Cuyahoga River and Cleveland Harbor must start without delay considered the Port Board at its March 2014 meeting. Accordingly they directed the  Port’s management to work with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to ensure the timely start and completion of dredging necessary for the 2014 shipping season utilizing existing confined facilities for disposal of the [dredged] material.

The Board also asked that the decision process of the Army Corps of Engineers with regard to the placement of dredged material in the open waters of Lake Erie be deliberate and transparent and provide for adequate time for careful consideration of all pertinent data and views, including State regulatory agency findings and local plans.

“It’s extremely important to our local economy that dredging begins as soon as possible on the Cuyahoga River and Cleveland Harbor so we can keep shipping channels open. More than 10 million tons of cargo pass through these vital marine highways each year,” said Marc Krantz, Chairman of the Port Board of Directors.

“We know there is adequate capacity in the existing confined disposal sites to accommodate the placement of sediment scheduled to be dredged in 2014. We are respectfully urging the Army Corps to avoid completely unnecessary interruptions to commerce by starting Spring dredging as soon as possible.”

At the same meeting the Port of Cleveland  Board of Directors also reviewed the Port’s 2013 unaudited financial results, which confirmed the Port had one of its best years on record. Financial performance significantly exceeded its budget projections with a 6.4 percent increase in operating revenues and a 4.9 percent decrease in operating expenses.

Will Friedman, Port of Cleveland CEO, said the Port saw its best operating performance in a decade, resulting in a $3 million improvement in the Port’s net assets.

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