USACE FY 2021 Work Plan: $24.9M for Freeport Harbor

The recently announced USACE Fiscal Year 2021 Work Plan includes $24.9 million in funding for the Freeport Harbor Channel Improvement Project (FHCIP).

GLDD

To date, Port Freeport has received $43.9 million in federal funding for the project. Mobilization and preparation for dredging the first component of the FHCIP is underway.

Great Lakes Dredge and Dock is scheduled to start dredging in February 2021.

The FY2021 funding will allow the Port in partnership with USACE to keep the next phase of the project on schedule for bid advertisement mid-summer.

The estimated total cost of the project is $295 million, of which the federal government share is $165 million and Port Freeport as the local sponsor will contribute the remaining $130 million to be funded by the 2018 voter-approved bond package.

This vitally important project will deepen the Freeport Harbor Channel from its current 46 feet to depths ranging from 51 to 56 feet.

“The inclusion of the FHCIP in two consecutive USACE Work Plans demonstrates the federal government’s steadfast commitment to our channel deepening and partial widening project,” Port Executive Director/CEO Phyllis Saathoff said.

“A deeper, wider channel will allow for safer and improved navigation of the Freeport Harbor Channel while supporting our port and channel partners’ needs for efficient transits using deeper draft vessels. Our region will greatly benefit from this project, as well as our local, state, and national economies.”

The channel deepening project has been a strategic initiative for Port Freeport for many years, receiving Congressional authorization in 2014.

The area’s ongoing industrial expansion fueled by the production of shale oil and gas and the Port’s proximity to fast-growing populations have intensified the need for this project.