USACE to dredge Corpus Christi Ship Channel

CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS, UNITED STATES

02.10.2011

Story by Isidro Reyna 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District, awarded a contract Jan. 27, 2011, to King Fisher Marine Service LP in the amount of $4,245,800 to dredge the Corpus Christi Ship Channel in Nueces County, Texas.

The contractor will use a pipeline dredge to remove approximately 1,087,000 cubic yards of shoaled material from the ship channel’s inner basin to the main turning basin.

“This maintenance dredge work will allow for the continued movement of commercial vessels through the Corpus Christi Ship Channel on to the Port of Corpus Christi,” said Paula Rankin Wise, a project operations manager with the Corps’ Galveston District. “It is imperative that we maintain channels open for navigation, as the commodities imported and exported contribute to the economic success of the nation.”

The Corpus Christi Ship Channel, which serves the Port of Corpus Christi, ranked fifth in the U.S. in 2009 for the amount tonnage volume, with 68.2 million short tons, according to the Corps’ Navigation Data Center.

“The Port of Corpus Christi is the primary economic engine of the Coastal Bend,” said David Krams, manager of channel development for the Port of Corpus Christi Authority. “Strategically located on the western Gulf of Mexico, with a straight, 45-foot deep channel, the port provides quick access to the Gulf and the entire United States inland waterway system.”

According to Krams, the major commodities that come through the port include crude oil, gasoline, fuel oil, bauxite, feed stock and wheat and he anticipates a substantial increase in tonnage with the export of coal in 2011.

Work on the channel is expected to begin by the end of February and will be completed by the end of June.

• Date Taken: 02.10.2011
• Date Posted: 02.10.2011 13:11
• Story ID: 65168
• Location: CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS, US