Cleveland port OKs maintenance dredging

   The Port of Cleveland approved a measure during its board meeting Thursday to immediately proceed with maintenance dredging in the Cuyahoga River and Cleveland Harbor before the start of the 2014 shipping season this spring.
   The port authority also sought to dispose of dredged material in the river and harbor into Lake Erie in a manner approved by the Army Corps of Engineers, in addition to state and local regulatory agencies.
   “It’s extremely important to our local economy that dredging begins as soon as possible on the Cuyahoga River and Cleveland Harbor, so we can keep shipping channels open. More than 10 million tons of cargo pass through these vital marine highways each year,” said Marc Krantz, the port’s board chairman, in a statement.
   Will Friedman, chief executive officer of the Port of Cleveland, said last year that the port saw its best operating performance in a decade, resulting in a $3-million improvement in the port’s net assets.
   “Our positive financial position lays the foundation for our major initiatives during the next few years,” he said, specifically citing the startup this April of the Cleveland-Europe Express container service. (For more details about this new service, read the article “Cleveland outbound,” pages 58-59, in the February issue of American Shipper.)
   Also Thursday, the Port of Cleveland board voted to renew its slate of officers for one-year terms, including Krantz as chairman, Chris Ronayne as vice chairman and Diane Downing as secretary. In addition, the board renewed the port’s contract with Federal Marine Terminal as general cargo terminal operator and renewed a lease agreement with Kenmore Construction Co. for work on Dock 20.