Army Corps chief gets update on Port of Savannah deepening

Dredging of the Savannah River is slated to commence later this year, but preliminary work has already begun.    Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, visited the Port of Savannah on Thursday for an update on the harbor expansion project.
   The Army Corps this year began managing the $706 million dredging project to deepen the Savannah River to 47 feet from 42 feet so larger vessels at full load can reach the nation’s fourth largest container port. The work is expected to be completed in 2020, assuming continued funding from Congress.
   The state of Georgia is contributing $266 million towards construction.
   As previously reported, archaeologists in late January began diving to recover the remains of the Confederate ironclad CSS Georgia. The historic Civil War ironclad rests 40 feet below the river’s surface on the edge of the navigation channel. Scuttled by her crew in 1864 to prevent Union capture, the vessel has been at the bottom of the river ever since.
   On March 4, the contract to deepen the entrance channel was awarded to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock. The work for this contract represents about half of the channel deepening, increasing the depth of the channel in the Atlantic Ocean to 49 feet below mean sea level, and extending it an additional seven miles. Great Lakes Dredge and Dock is expected to begin digging towards the end of the year, Billy Bidwell, a spokesman for the Army Corps’ Savannah District office said. 
   The latest news from the Georgia Ports Authority is that the Army Corps is evaluating bids for a Dissolved Oxygen System, which is designed to maintain necessary oxygen levels in the river during hot, dry months when levels typically drop, and to counter the effects of saltwater intrusion from deepening the river. New technology known as “Speece cones” will inject oxygen into the water when oxygen levels are low and could potentially threaten aquatic life.