![]() “We’re excited to see so much work getting done as the Corps of Engineers coordinates these efforts.” “With the challenges our economy is facing, the savings a deeper harbor will mean for our customers can’t come soon enough,” Lynch said. GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch said the progress surging ahead on SHEP is good news for port users. The inner harbor deepening is the final portion of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project. Inner harbor deepening at the Port of Savannah is slated for completion in late 2021. The dredge Chatry works to deepen the Savannah River. The improvements we are making today through the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project will help ensure Georgia’s economic vitality for decades to come.” “Through the Port of Savannah, we feed the world with Georgia Grown products, and support manufacturing and retail activity across the country. “Georgia’s ports are among our greatest economic development assets and play a critical role in creating jobs and investment opportunities across the state,” said Georgia Gov. Georgia’s Department of Transportation and the Georgia Ports Authority serve as the state sponsors for the project. The federal government and the state of Georgia share the cost of the deepening. “The cooperation we receive from GPA, our dredging contractors, the harbor pilots, the Coast Guard and others demonstrates the dedication this community has for deepening the Savannah harbor,” Hibner said. All dredges work 24 hours a day, every day. After commercial traffic passes, everything must return to continue the routine. In addition, workers must move pipelines leading from the dredges to the dredge material disposal areas. All vessels must move aside whenever commercial vessels enter their area. ![]() The two smaller maintenance dredges remove built up shoaling and sediment, then move on followed by the larger deepening dredges. With finely tuned coordination, each dredge and its associated support vessels must be at the right place at the right time. “This effort ensures the harbor will improve the ability of Savannah to meet the demands of today and tomorrow.” Hibner, commander of the Corps’ Savannah District said. “The Savannah District continues to manage the intensely complicated task of coordinating dredge actions and placement of dredged material to ensure safety, compliance with contract requirements and timeliness to reach our goal of completing this major deepening in January 2022,” Col. The outer harbor, a roughly 20-mile channel extending into the Atlantic Ocean, has already been deepened to 49 feet at low tide. The inner harbor constitutes the final portion. The entire deepening project is approximately 62 percent complete. The dredges work without disrupting the flow of commercial traffic to or from the Port of Savannah’s Garden City Terminal and other facilities along the river. The Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP) includes two dredges keeping the channel at its current authorized depth of 42 feet followed by two dredges taking the channel to its new depth of 47 feet. Robert Morris, Chief Communications Officer, Ga., May 31, 2020– The deepening of the Savannah harbor has set a new precedent with four dredges working simultaneously, the Army Corps of Engineers announced.
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