PORT EVERGLADES: BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 47 & 48 FEET OF DEPTH?
An interesting debate is taking place in Broward County regarding the depth of dredging at Port Everglades. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the authority in these situations, and also impacts federal funding of these port projects. They have just recommended a 47 foot depth for Port Everglades, while Broward County sought a depth of 48 feet. Seems like small change, no big deal right? First of all, let’s talk about the cost of it: $18 million dollars. The 47 foot depth would allow the largest petroleum and container vessels. So what is the issue? It is that megaships with full loads prefer depths of 50 feet to comfortably maneuver. Port Miami is dredging to 50 feet and maybe other ports are concerned that they will be bypassed if they are not deep enough. It could also be a regional competitive thing, like if Miami can do it then we should be able to as well. There is a lot of money and jobs at stake here, $369 million dollars, of which $186 million would be paid by the federal government and $183 million by Port Everglades. You could imagine the prospect of spending all this money to improve the capacity and then it not being adequate to handle the increased traffic. And then the traffic would divert to other ports that can handle it and lose the investment and the existing traffic. The ports and the expansion of it supports 4,200 jobs and 2,200 construction jobs. There will be plenty of more updates on this soon and I promise you will find them here. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.
Port Everglades mulls extra $9 million outlay to dredge to 48 feet
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