Clear as mud? (part 2)

Clear as mud? (part 2)

Charleston. A reconnaissance study for the Port of Charleston was completed in July 2010, and concluded there would be a national economic benefit to deepening the harbor's channels beyond their current 45-foot depths. Charleston has a six-foot tide, so the port is able to regularly handle 8,400-TEU vessels drafting up to 48 feet.

   Lisa Metheney, assistant chief of programming and projects for the Corps of Engineers in Charleston, said the House budget had $400,000 for a feasibility study, as did a Senate omnibus spending bill before the budget impasse last fall.

'The loss of three feet of of draft on a crude oil tanker equals more than a $4 million loss. That's per ship.'

Michael R. Lorino Jr. president, Associated Branch Pilots

   But because the government is operating under continuing resolutions in the current fiscal year, the money was not available.

Nor was money for deepening Charleston's harbor in the Obama administration's fiscal year 2012 budget

   In April, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. was continuing efforts to get funding for the study and the ability for the Corps of Engineers to begin the study in fiscal year 2011.

   The total cost of the Charleston project has been estimated at $300 million to $400 million, depending on how deeply the harbor is dredged, what terminals are included, and other details such as what test borings say about the geology of the harbor bottom, Metheney said.

   Byron Miller, a spokesman for the South Carolina State Ports Authority, said at $300 million, 'our argument is that in a time of limited resources, that's a pretty smart buy. Why spend $600 million to $800 million to get what we have today when we spend half of that and get a true 50-foot harbor of the Southeast.

   'Charleston has a relatively short transit to the open ocean, so you can get deeper water here than you can get in other places,' he said.

   Graham told a group of business and political leaders in April that he wants to have a fund included in the Corp's 2012 budget for harbors 'accommodating the Panama Canal,' according to a story in the Anderson County Independent Mail. His office confirmed Graham's remarks, but was unable to provide any further details on the senator's plans.

   South Carolina's other senator, Jim DeMint, has been an outspoken opponent of earmarks, and was criticized by some last year (including the Charleston's Post and Courier newspaper) for not advocating hard enough to get funding for a Charleston deepening study.

   But he and Graham are cosponsoring legislation that DeMint said would reform how water resources projects are funded.

   DeMint said the Army Corps Reform Act of 2011 would create a Water Resources Commission to prioritize projects, empower the Corps to undertake studies and construction projects 'based on national priority instead of politically directed earmarks,' and reform the HMTF to allow states to choose, within the proper parameters, where to use the harbor maintenance taxes collected at their own ports.

   DeMint said his bill would allow harbor maintenance taxes for dredging, studies and new construction.



Down the Atlantic Coast in Savannah, the Corps last November released its draft general re-evaluation report and environmental impact statement on the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project. It said deepening the Savannah Harbor to 47 or 48 feet would bring more than $115 million in annual economic benefits to the United States.

   A request for public comments brought in more than 2,500 responses.

   'We feel good about the study and during the past 10 years jumped through many hurdles and we feel like the project is moving forward,' said Robert Morris, a spokesman for the Georgia Ports Authority. 'It's a very important project and will impact a large portion of the country for the efficient and cost effective movement of freight.'

   The president's fiscal year 2012 Corps budget allocated only $600,000 for the project. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said that while the port had hoped for 'a much greater show of support,' the funds mean 'the president obviously supports moving forward.'

   Morris said the state continues to be enthusiastic about the project. Deal included $32 million in his fiscal year 2012 budget, and the state has now set aside $135 million for a project that is estimated to cost $550 million to $625 million.

   Morris noted that in Savannah exports outstrip imports ' 2010 exports accounted for 53 percent of container traffic; compared to 47 percent imports.

   'The president's State of the Union Address spoke about the importance of infrastructure and expanding exports,' Morris said. 'If ever there was a port that could expand exports, the Port of Savannah is that port.'

   Billy Birdwell, a spokesman for the Corps of Engineers, said a final version of the general re-evaluation report and environmental impact study will be released this fall and would recommend how much the Savannah River's 42-foot depth should be deepened, up to 48 feet. After another round of public comment, a record of decision is expected to be issued in 2012 by the Corps.



Miami. In March, Florida Gov. Rick Scott asked his state's Department of Transportation to allocate $77 million to the Port of Miami to deepen the channel to 50 feet, and the state is asking the U.S. government to allocate $75 million for the federal share of the projects.

   Most ports highlight growing trade with Asia as justification for the deeper channels. Scott also pointed to trade with South America. In 2009, South America and the Caribbean accounted for 48 percent of the port's volume, Asia and the Pacific 33 percent.

   The deep harbor is linked to two other projects at the port ' construction of a tunnel and upgrading rail service. Last October the port received a $22 million TIGER II grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for a link to Florida East Coast Railroad's yard in Hialeah.

   The railroad said it hopes to convert many of the 60,000 trucks that are drayed to and from the docks annually into intermodal rail moves.



Jacksonville. In the Port of Jacksonville, Executive Vice President Roy Schleicher said the port expected a first draft of a General Re-evaluation Report II to be completed by the Corp of Engineers in late April or May.

   Jacksonville's channel is 40 feet (actually 41 feet plus one foot of overdraft), and the study will look at the cost-benefit analysis of deepening the river to as much 50 feet.

   Schleicher and Anderson say liner companies like Hanjin want the deeper water to accommodate ships that will call at a new $300 million terminal the carrier is building at Dames Point in Jacksonville.

   As ports rush to deepen in anticipation of the Panama Canal completion, it's not clear that all will need to handle ships drawing 50 feet of water, or how quickly they will need that capability.

   John Vickerman, a Williamsburg, Va.-based port consultant, believes the new 'workhorse' of the container fleet serving the East Coast will have a capacity of about 9,000 and 10,000 TEU. But, 'I would really question a blanket statement of having to dredge all ports,' he said.

   Many big new ships will not be fully loaded or will 'cube out' with lighter weight cargo from Asia, for example, before they sink to their 50-foot marks, Vickerman said.

   He also expects many ships will be loading and discharging containers in Panama or the Caribbean on their way to the U.S. East and Gulf coasts.

   Panamanian ports such as Balboa and Cristobel are likely to do a lot of transshipment to and from the Caribbean, Latin America, and perhaps even to and from feeder ships serving the U.S. Gulf, he said.