Port continues push for more dredging funds

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Lack of funding continues to be a major obstacle to keeping waterways properly dredged and facilitating commerce in the Morgan City area.

Port leaders are trying to make sure federal officials in Washington, D.C., know about that struggle.

The Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District Commission met Monday at the Port of Morgan City’s Government Emergency Operations Center.

Port Economic Development Manager Cindy Cutrera said port officials are continuing to emphasize to political leaders the Port of Morgan City’s need for more dredging funds.

For years, officials have struggled to try to keep the Atchafalaya River Bar Channel, which starts roughly 20 miles south of Morgan City and empties into the Gulf of Mexico, dredged to its congressionally authorized 20-foot depth to allow vessels to navigate the waterway.

Though the buildup of sediment affects all types of vessel traffic, inadequate depth in the channel hits the import-export business especially hard. Import-export ships made 20 trips to the port from August 2014 to August 2015 but haven’t visited Morgan City since then due to lack of depth in the channel.

Fluid mud, known as “fluff,” accumulates in the bar channel, making navigation difficult or impossible for some ships to get through the channel. In addition to the bar channel, accumulation of sand upriver from the bar channel has further complicated navigation for vessel traffic.

The port gets an annual allotment from the federal government through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge its waterways. Officials expect the port to receive about $6 million to dredge waterways for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The Port of Morgan City got roughly the same amount of funding last fiscal year, but from 2004 to 2012 it averaged over $18 million per year in dredging funds, Port Executive Director Raymond “Mac” Wade said.

“We barely kept the channel open getting that much money,” Wade said. “We’ve got to get additional money so we can open up the entire channel.”

Local leaders hope to eventually raise its dredging funds to close to $13 million annually by making their voices heard in Washington, D.C.

Charles Brittingham II, senior vice president of Cassidy & Associates, a government relations firm, has been advocating for several months on behalf of the port in Washington, D.C.

Brittingham is working to ensure “the story is told about the Port of Morgan City” on Capitol Hill and to inform federal officials about what having a 20-foot deep river channel year round would mean economically for the region, he said.

Port leaders are especially promoting the beneficial use of material dredged from the river to help restore coastal lands instead of just pumping the sand right back into the Atchafalaya as is currently happening, Cutrera said.

Representatives from Avoca Inc., which owns land on nearby Avoca Island, have expressed interest in using fertile sand from Berwick Bay to do a coastal restoration to build up the island, she said.

“The more we move from Berwick Bay, the less we have going down into the river that has to be dredged,” Cutrera said.

A cutter-head dredge is doing routine maintenance dredging in Berwick Bay to remove sand from the river bottom and should finish in two to three weeks, Wade said. After the dredge finishes in the bay, it will go downriver to remove a “plug” of sand, Wade said.

During the meeting, port commissioners voted to reject a bid that came in too high to construct a pump that could be used on a barge to help dredge the bar channel. The commission voted to go through the bidding process again.

The port already bought a $1.6 million barge with the idea of potentially dredging the channel with it.

Port officials are in process of trying to get necessary Corps permit in case the port decides to operate its own dredge, Wade said.

Leaders are also considering possibly using Brice Civil Constructors, an Alaskan company that does lots of work for the federal government, to dredge the bar channel if the company can prove to federal officials that it can effectively reduce the density of the fluid mud, Wade said.

In other business, the commission

—Approved the port to apply for the 2017 Transportation Infrastructure Generating Economic Recovery grant and Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant and commit to providing matching funds for each grant.

— Approved a one-year contract between the port and Morgan City Stevedores.

—Approved projects using 2016 port security funds.

—Approved creating a standardized form for use of equipment and the emergency operations center by local, state and federal agencies.

—Approved a resolution to execute a right of entry for the Corps.