The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and
the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey recently announced the award of
$79 million dollar project to deepen the
Kill Van Kull in the Port of New York and
New Jersey to 50 ft, an effort to meet the
growing demands of the port and to
improve navigational safety and accom-
modate the next generation of cargo ves-
sels that require deep water to operate.
The Kill Van Kull is a main artery
between Upper New York and Newark
Bay that provides access to Port Elizabeth
and Port Newark in New Jersey and the
New York Container Terminal in Staten
Island. There are overall plans to deepen
areas in Ambrose, Anchorage, Newark
Bay, Arthur Kill, Port Jersey and Bay
Ridge channels over the course of the
next decade.
"The Corps is building safe and effi-
cient channels to meet the growing needs
of the shipping industry and the region's
ever increasing demands for goods and
services, while balancing the environ-
mental needs of our harbor estuary," said
Col. Richard J. Polo, Jr., the Corps New
York District Engineer. "The Corps,
along with our sponsor, contractors and
partner agencies, employ the best avail-
able dredging technologies on this project
as well as take a lead role in improving
the harbor estuary. So, what is really
exciting is that all materials dredged dur-
ing construction of these underwater
highways are, and will continue to be
used beneficially, to either close landfills
that were leaching contaminants into the
harbor, remediate brownfields into wet-
lands, create recreational fishing reefs or
cap the Historic Area Remediation Site
formerly known as the Mud Dump. It is
truly a challenging construction project
but equally as important, it is also an
environmental success story in the mak-
ing."
Port Authority Chairman Anthony R.
Coscia said, "We continue to make his-
toric levels of investments in our port,
including our $760 million contribution
to deepen the harbor channels to 50 feet.
This project will ensure that more goods
are moved into and out of this region,
which will allow us to remain competi-
tive in the marketplace as we strive to
boost job growth and economic activity
for the New York and New Jersey
region." Port Authority Executive Direc-
tor Kenneth J. Ringler Jr. said, "This
channel-deepening project is a critical
part of the Port Authority's aggressive
plan to make sure our port remains the
leading East Coast destination for inter-
national shippers. The 50-foot channels,
coupled with our $600 million investment
in new rail infrastructure, will make sure
we remain competitive with other East
Coast ports, which will allow us to attract
more cargo and the resulting economic
activity and thousands of jobs in New
York and New Jersey associated with it."
The contract was awarded to Bean
Stuyvesant, LLC of New Orleans, which
will be excavating more than 2.5 million
cubic yards of materials. Of this amount,
128,000 cubic yards consist of fine-
grained sediments, which will be treated
and then used as landfill cover at the
EnCap Redevelopment Project site and
the Catellus Port Reading Business Park
Redevelopment Project in New Jersey.
The remaining 2.4 million cubic yards of
clean glacial till will be utilized to cap
historic deposits of dredged material at
the Historic Area Remediation Site in the
Atlantic Ocean. Most of the rock that is
dredged will be used to create fishing
reefs off the Jersey shore. This contract
area is scheduled for completion by 2007.
Additionally, last December, the Corps
completed deepening the Kill Van Kull
and Newark Bay channels to 45 feet. A
portion known as Area 5 near Bergen
Point, New Jersey, presents a difficult
turn for containerships and other large
vessels navigating into Port Elizabeth and
Port Newark, thus the Coast Guard has
established special requirements for tran-
sit "queue's" to ensure the continued safe
use of the waterway by all users while
dredging continues. This area has already
been deepened to 50 feet under a special
contract with the Port Authority. Other
ongoing work in the Harbor includes
interim deepenings of the Arthur Kill
Channel to 41 feet, as well as the Port Jer-
sey Channel that services the Global
Marine Terminal in Bayonne to 41 feet.
14 • MarineNews • June, 2005
Unbeatable Quality
ISUZU FORD ROBIN VM NEWAGE LOMBARDINI
GENERATORS • ENGINES PUMPS PARTS SERVICE
1212 St. Charles St. Houma, LA 70360
Phone: 985-857-8000 / 800-960-0068
www.mlengine.com / sales@mlengine.com
Circle 246 on Reader Service Card
NEWS
$79M Deepening Project Begins
have the hull strength to hold liquid mud,
a much heavier product than crude oil.
Specialized tankers carrying molten sul-
fur had the hull strength to hold high vol-
umes of liquid mud.
From a cost standpoint, Hornbeck feels
the conversion cost of one of these
tankers will be about the same as a new
UT-745 or a 280-ft. class of supply boat.
"To build a pair of vessels with the same
capabilities of the HOS 370 would be
about $120 million or about twice our
expected investment" Hornbeck added.
There are 327 deepwater fields in the
GOM and a backlog of 1066 approved
applications to drill in over 1,000-ft. of
water. Also there are 13 more floating
production units scheduled to be deliv-
ered to the GOM by 2008, a 50 percent
increase from units now online.
Infrastructure for deepwater produc-
tion is expected to increase by 60 percent
by 2010. A large number of pipelines,
tiebacks and other subsea construction
work will place extreme demands on the
equipment currently available.
Hornbeck has design these tankers to
do more than haul liquid mud, although
that will be their most outstanding
attribute. Hornbeck says the vessels are a
"Swiss Army Knife" approach well
beyond the capabilities of existing sup-
ply vessels. The converted tankers are
expected to enter service by the end of
2006 and the cost will be funded by cash
on hand, projected free cash flow and
available revolving credit capacity.
(Continued from previous page)
JUNEMN2005 2(9-16).qxd 5/26/2005 9:05 AM Page 14
Digital Wave Publishing