USACE: Big year for Post 45 Harbor Deepening

Year 2021 was a big one for the Post 45 Charleston Harbor Deepening project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District, said in their latest announcement.

In 2022, they plan to finish this capital development program.

“Once completed, we will have deepened Charleston Harbor to a depth of 52 feet, making it the deepest port on the East Coast,” said USACE.

According to USACE, the project will remove 40 million cubic yards of sediment – the equivalent of 12,230 Olympic pools – from Charleston Harbor’s federal channel.

USACE has maintained Charleston Harbor for more than 140 years and has dredged it every year during that time to ensure the channel is at the required federal project depth, spending approximately $10-15 million and removing 2-3 million cubic yards of maintenance material from the harbor floor each year. 

Charleston Harbor has strategic national importance for military readiness, supporting Joint Base Charleston, and regionally the harbor deepening is of economic importance, allowing Post-Panamax vessels to call upon the harbor.