The Port of New York and New Jersey has announced that it may need to further widen its channel in order to more effectively handle mega-ships, as part of an ongoing US$2.1 billion project to deepen its channel to 15.2 metres, according to JOC.com.
The final phase of dredging is expected to be complete in a couple of months.
Bryce Wisemiller, Project Manager for the agency’s harbour deepening project, said: “The Port Authority is looking at the feasibility of bringing in larger containerships than what the project was designed for.
“As a matter of fact, larger ships than what the project was designed for have already been utilising the port, even though we haven’t fully completed the 50-foot deepening project yet.”
Technical Paper: Winning the Harbour Depth Race
This story is a continuing narrative of a much larger plan that the Port of New York and New Jersey are currently involved with to accelerate growth.
The Port Authority recently announced a US$6.5 billion 2016 budget, which is to be used to fund new infrastructure and repair existing transport facilities, with $175 million investment in port infrastructure.
With the Panama Canal being inaugurated on June 26, 2016, ports are scrambling to prepare with some spending billions on new infrastructure in order to facilitate larger ships.
The largest size ship set to traverse the canal will rise to more than 13,000 TEU after the third lane of traffic is completed.
