GLDD at Work on Third Arthur Kill Deepening Project
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock will begin work soon on a contract to deepen reach S-AK-3 of the Arthur Kill Channel in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The New York Engineer District awarded a contract for $41368100 to Great Lakes on January 31. The contract is to deepen the channel from the existing depth of 43 and 47 feet to 52 feet plus 1.5 feet of overdepth. Great Lakes will use its clamshell Dredge 55 and drill boat Apache on the project.
The contract title is Dredging of Arthur Kill Channel (S-AK-3) plus KVK #10 Buoy and West Elizabeth Channel Navigation Improvement 50-foot deepening project New York and New Jersey Harbor.
The West Elizabeth Channel is about three miles north of S-AK-3. It is a 1000-foot portion of the Elizabeth Channel that was initially deferred for construction and is now being completed. The KVK #10 buoy is a small area centered at that buoy where the dredging will help straighten the channel.
The contract area for this project is in the Arthur Kill in front of the New York Container Terminal on Staten Island with New Jersey on the west extending north to meet the lower boundary of the S-AK-3 contract which finished up on March 5. The S-AK-1 from the end of the S-AK-2 reach to New York’s Lower Bay was completed in September 2012.
The contract is cost-shared with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and includes drilling blasting dredging and disposal of rock. The Corps anticipates that drilling and blasting work on this contract will not adversely affect the surrounding communities.
"The Army Corps is committed to a timely completion of navigation improvements within the harbor" said Tom Shea project manager. "The Arthur Kill channel approaching the New York Container Terminal is now underway with work scheduled to be completed by 2014."
The deepening of the channels coincides with improvements to the Panama Canal. The Panamax ships will be able to accommodate 18 to 20 containers across compared to the existing 13 and can be stacked nine containers high instead of six as with today’s ships. The newer generation of ships will save transportation costs for goods coming from overseas and are more environmentally friendly sporting more fuel-efficient engines while equipped with the latest technologies in air emission control systems.
The Port of New York and New Jersey provides more than 269900 direct and indirect jobs in port-related activities. The Port has four major container terminals and the overall Harbor Deepening Project involves nearly 38 miles of shipping channels to bring them to 50 feet by 2014.
