Tampa port, Mosaic in dredge agreement

Tampa port, Mosaic in dredge agreement    The Tampa Port Authority Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a joint project with Mosaic Co. that will result in the transfer of dredge materials from Mosaic's port berth along the Alafia River to one of the port authority's spoil islands.
   The port said the deal will assist Mosaic and the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with essential, ongoing maintenance dredging. About 350,000 cubic yards will be transported to the port authority’s Spoil Island 2D in order to keep Mosaic's berth channel to an adequate operational depth.
   Mosaic is the world’s leading producer of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients.
   The Corps of Engineers is responsible for dredging the Alafia channel and the Mosaic berth, but the areas that have been used for depositing dredge materials have reached capacity.
   In exchange for the use of Spoil Island 2D as depository for the dredge materials, the arrangement calls for Mosaic to pay for the design, permitting, construction and related costs of the necessary control discharge structure improvements on Spoil Island 3D, also owned by the port. Without the agreement, Mosaic would have had to empty one of its full sites, thereby delaying the channel by at least one year.