THE Port of New York and New Jersey plans to dig deeper achieve the drafts needed to handle ultra-large container vessels by funding two studies on dredging its shipping channels to 55 feet, reports New York's Journal of Commerce.
The board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) has approved US$19.2 million in spending to study the next steps needed for deepening New York Harbour's ship channels from their current 50-foot depth.
The latest studies set the stage for the PANYNJ to - eventually - get the federal government to share the costs for dredging, said port director Bethann Rooney.
But the soonest that could happen is 2028, with an indeterminant time before the project's completion, Ms Rooney said.
Meanwhile, other east coast ports have raced ahead in handling larger container vessels. The Port of Virginia is expected to reach a 55-foot-depth by the end of 2024. The Port of Charleston is currently the deepest along the east coast with a 52-foot channel depth.
'We'll easily be able to handle 18,000-TEU ships, and some of the 24,000-TEU ships,' she said. 'At a 55-foot depth, we will max out the capabilities for both channel and air draft of the Verrazzano and the Bayonne bridges, but still be able to handle the largest ships that are being built today.'
Ms Rooney said vessels calling the NY-NJ port are testing the shipping channel's current capacity. The biggest ship that the port's channels were designed to handle was the 6,400-TEU Regina Maersk, which had a draft of 47 feet and could stack containers 17 across and 13 high.
But just over half, or 52 per cent, of the ships that called the port in 2022 were larger than that, she said, with NY-NJ seeing ships up to 16,000 TEU call, which can have container stacks 16 high and 20 wide. But because of the channel's current limits, larger ships have to wait for high tide to make their transit, Ms Rooney said.
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The board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) has approved US$19.2 million in spending to study the next steps needed for deepening New York Harbour's ship channels from their current 50-foot depth.
The latest studies set the stage for the PANYNJ to - eventually - get the federal government to share the costs for dredging, said port director Bethann Rooney.
But the soonest that could happen is 2028, with an indeterminant time before the project's completion, Ms Rooney said.
Meanwhile, other east coast ports have raced ahead in handling larger container vessels. The Port of Virginia is expected to reach a 55-foot-depth by the end of 2024. The Port of Charleston is currently the deepest along the east coast with a 52-foot channel depth.
'We'll easily be able to handle 18,000-TEU ships, and some of the 24,000-TEU ships,' she said. 'At a 55-foot depth, we will max out the capabilities for both channel and air draft of the Verrazzano and the Bayonne bridges, but still be able to handle the largest ships that are being built today.'
Ms Rooney said vessels calling the NY-NJ port are testing the shipping channel's current capacity. The biggest ship that the port's channels were designed to handle was the 6,400-TEU Regina Maersk, which had a draft of 47 feet and could stack containers 17 across and 13 high.
But just over half, or 52 per cent, of the ships that called the port in 2022 were larger than that, she said, with NY-NJ seeing ships up to 16,000 TEU call, which can have container stacks 16 high and 20 wide. But because of the channel's current limits, larger ships have to wait for high tide to make their transit, Ms Rooney said.
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