MARITRANS CRITICIZES STUDY TO DREDGE THE DELEWARE RIVER

MARITRANS CRITICIZES STUDY TO DREDGE THE DELEWARE RIVER    Maritrans Operating Company L.P., a subsidiary of the tug and barge operator Maritrans Inc., said that findings of a study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over-stated the economic benefits of the proposed dredging of the Delaware river to 45 feet.
   “The Army Corps of Engineers report, released in December, concluded that the benefit-to-cost ratio of the deepening project was 1.18 to 1,” Maritrans said. The report states that the major benefit of this project is in the form of reduced lightering expenses for refineries along the Delaware river.
   However, Maritrans Operating Company, which performs lightering for area refineries, alleged that the Army Corps of Engineers report “under-stated the actual volume of lightering by approximately 25 percent and under-reported the number of hours spent lightering by approximately 35 percent.”
   “While Maritrans supports the development of the port of Philadelphia, we have maintained for the last 10 years that the expenditure of more than $200 million of taxpayer money required for the project cannot be justified on objective economic grounds,” the shipping company said.
      The proposed dredging of the Delaware river would damage Maritrans’ lightering business. Maritrans, headquartered in Tampa, Fla., has an office in the Philadelphia area that supports the company’s Northeast crude oil lightering operations.
   Last June, the U.S. General Accounting Office issued a report in which it reviewed the Army Corps of Engineers’ initial economic justification to dredge the Delaware river to 45 feet. The Army Corps of Engineers issued a reanalysis in December.