Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District, awarded a total of 17 maintenance dredging contracts and obligated more than $200 million toward dredging efforts in fiscal year 2010 (from Oct. Q: What is the dollar value of dredging contracts for the fiscal year 2010?Ī. Texas ports and waterways handle 42 percent of foreign crude oil that is imported into America. Without regularly scheduled maintenance dredging, channels will shoal to critical depths resulting in a significant loss of ship and barge payload capabilities and consequently a substantial reduction in local, state and national economic benefits. leading ports including Houston, Beaumont, Corpus Christi and Texas City (in millions of short tons). According to the USACE Navigation Data Center (2010), Texas is home to four of the top 10 U.S. Nearly 30 ports along the Texas Coast handle more than 500 million tons of commerce annually. Q: How does dredging contribute to strengthening our economy?Ī. In addition, natural habitats along the coastline such as the Laguna Madre can be greatly altered by the reduction of saline flow in and out of our estuaries and bays. Severe shoaling in the Brazos Island Harbor Channel Jetty Channel and Sabine Pass Channel have impacted the steel and liquid natural gas industries and have resulted in loads being diverted to other domestic and foreign ports. If the material is not removed from the channels at the end of the shoaling cycle, the channel will be draft or width restricted resulting in economic losses to the nation and unsafe passage of vessels accessing deep and shallow draft ports along the Texas Coast. Q: Why is dredging important and necessary along the Texas coast?Ī. The shoaled material is removed to the authorized project depth (plus advance maintenance and allowable overdepth) to allow for safe navigation between dredging cycles, a process known as maintenance dredging. Throughout the year, sediments within the water column will settle and accumulate within the channel, a process that is known as shoaling. Dredging is essentially the underwater excavation of a channel.
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