USACE Tours Arthur Kill Channel Deepening Project Site (USA)

On April 13th, Major General Michael J. Walsh, Deputy Commanding General for Civil and Emergency Operations for the USACE, visited Cashman’s Arthur Kill channel deepening project site to witness a blast.

The drill boat Kraken is currently being used for drilling and blasting operations in the Arthur Kill Channel.

About project

The Arthur Kill deepening project is part of the overall NY & NJ Harbor Deepening (50 feet) $1.6 billion project to deepen certain channels to 50 feet in order to allow the safe and economically efficient passage of the newest container ships serving the Port of NY & NJ.

The Arthur Kill Channel west of the Bayonne Bridge and north of Shooter’s Island is being deepened to allow large ships to safely navigate to reach the New York Container Terminal in Staten Island, N.Y. – a critical component in providing safe navigation access to the port and a significant component of the broader effort of the Army Corps’ navigation channel deepening project crucial for modern-day container ships fully loaded to navigate safely.

The project provides for deepening the existing Arthur Kill Channel from its confluence with the Kill Van Kull Channel to the New York Container Terminal (NYCT) in Staten Island, New York, and to 40 feet MLW from the New York Container Terminal (NYCT) to the Conoco Phillips (Tosco) Oil Terminal and GATX facilities in New Jersey and New York.

Drilling and underwater blasting operations has occurred on the overall deepening project previously in the Kill Van Kull and Newark Bay to break up hard rock. During the first week of August 2011, drilling and underwater blasting operations commenced in this contract (S-NB-1/S-AK1) area north of Shooters Island in New Jersey waters.

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Dredging Today Staff, April 26, 2012; Image: jaycashman