7 day forecast
Panama prep: Competition heats up as U.S. ports get ready for canal expansion
-
The Miami skyline frames construction crews and equipment at work on the 7-foot wharf expansion necessitated by the deepening of the Panama Canal. -
A tugboat escorts a large container ship near Cocoli, Panama.
Share with others:
(This is the second part of a Miami Herald series on the Panama Canal).
SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Five mega-ships -- one as long as three-and-a-half football fields -- line the wharves of this bustling port as towering cranes pluck containers stuffed with products destined for the shelves of Southeast retailers.
While tourists may know Savannah for its historic homes, ancient azaleas and leisurely charm, its port based in Garden City -- about a 10-minute drive from downtown -- also happens to be the second-largest container port on the East Coast.
Too large to transit the Panama Canal, the ships known as post-Panamax vessels have arrived in Savannah's river port via the Suez Canal and with the help of high tide. It helps, too, that they are not fully loaded.
"The Panama Canal has always been a speed bump for us," said Curtis J. Foltz, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority.
But not content to rely on the vagaries of tides and light loads, Savannah wants to dredge its 42-foot-deep channel to a depth of 47 feet -- deep enough to handle the big ships that will transit the Panama Canal once its expansion is completed in 2015.
That's 40 miles of dredging from the Atlantic to Garden City -- and it doesn't come cheap. It adds up to $652 million, with the federal government expected to chip in about 60 percent.
Savannah is hoping to win big when the canal expansion is completed, but so are ports from Houston to New York, which want to attract the big ships that can carry more than twice as many containers as the vessels that now transit the canal.
There will be winners and losers, but no one wants to be left out of the race as ports arm themselves with deeper harbors, stronger wharves, larger cranes and other improvements in hopes of snagging the big ships.
Norfolk, Va., and Baltimore already have harbors deep enough to handle the super-size ships, but Baltimore needs to overcome transportation bottlenecks once the containers reach port. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey expects to have its harbor deepened to 50 feet by 2014, but it still must raise the deck of the Bayonne Bridge 64 feet above the roadway so the ships can reach the port's main terminals.
"If all the ports are preparing, you're probably going to get excess capacity," said Daniel L. Gardner, president of Los Angeles consulting firm Trade Facilitators and a logistics expert. "There may be a few white elephants decorating the East Coast."
There's a limited pot of federal money for the expensive channel deepening projects and Florida reached into its own pocket to help finance the Miami dredging project when federal funds didn't materialize.
During congressional testimony last year, Paul Anderson, chief executive of the Jacksonville Port Authority, lamented that the federal government has bestowed "stepchild" status on the nation's ports for too long and argued that the United States needs to invest in them.
The typical American consumer, he said, "gives little thought to how products move to the shelf at their local supercenter or mega-grocery or mom-and-pop, how the item we need is ready for purchase as we dash in to grab that container of coffee or computer part ... I shudder to think of the outcry should our consumer products get stuck on the docks because we no longer have the infrastructure to move them."
Perhaps indicating which ports it thinks should be the winners in the race for deep water, the Obama administration announced in July that expansion and modernization plans would be expedited for five ports: Savannah, New York and New Jersey, Charleston, Jacksonville and Miami. Such projects can take years to get off the ground, and a green light from the administration is important.
"It's all about the post-Panamax world," said PortMiami Director Bill Johnson. He spent years lobbying for federal funding for Miami's $180 million "deep dredge" before Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced last year that the state would kick in the remaining $77 million "so that Florida can take another leap forward in international trade."
But Steven M. Cernak, director at Port Everglades in Broward County, Fla., said the need for deep water goes well beyond expansion of the canal.
A new generation of post-Panamax ships is coming online, he said, and they will gradually replace older, smaller ships. "All the ports have to be ready for that day," Mr. Cernak said. "We're already seeing this size of vessels."
Xxxxx
xxxxxx
Gxzcmbxcmbnxdvmbzxcvmnbxcvzxcvlkjxcvjklxcvt week. The average price yesterday in the Pittsburgh area was $3.99, while the average price nationwide was a record $3.978, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
Xxxxx
xxxxxx
Gxzcmbxcmbnxdvmbzxcvmnbxcvzxcvlkjxcvjklxcvt week. The average price yesterday in the Pittsburgh area was $3.99, while the average price nationwide was a record $3.978, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
Xxxxx
xxxxxx
Gxzcmbxcmbnxdvmbzxcvmnbxcvzxcvlkjxcvjklxcvt week. The average price yesterday in the Pittsburgh area was $3.99, while the average price nationwide was a record $3.978, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
Xxxxx
xxxxxx
Gxzcmbxcmbnxdvmbzxcvmnbxcvzxcvlkjxcvjklxcvt week. The average price yesterday in the Pittsburgh area was $3.99, while the average price nationwide was a record $3.978, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
Xxxxx
xxxxxx
Gxzcmbxcmbnxdvmbzxcvmnbxcvzxcvlkjxcvjklxcvt week. The average price yesterday in the Pittsburgh area was $3.99, while the average price nationwide was a record $3.978, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
Xxxxx
xxxxxx
Gxzcmbxcmbnxdvmbzxcvmnbxcvzxcvlkjxcvjklxcvt week. The average price yesterday in the Pittsburgh area was $3.99, while the average price nationwide was a record $3.978, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
Xxxxx
xxxxxx
Gxzcmbxcmbnxdvmbzxcvmnbxcvzxcvlkjxcvjklxcvt week. The average price yesterday in the Pittsburgh area was $3.99, while the average price nationwide was a record $3.978, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
Xxxxx
xxxxxx
Gxzcmbxcmbnxdvmbzxcvmnbxcvzxcvlkjxcvjklxcvt week. The average price yesterday in the Pittsburgh area was $3.99, while the average price nationwide was a record $3.978, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
Also in business
AK Steel sdkjhxc,.mnvx,cmvnxcv,mnxcv zxcvgy and the scrap metal used to make the steel ... Linn Energy LLC azxm,nzxcvnr $185 million to repay debt. Linn relocated from Mt. Lebanon to Houston in 2006 ... CNX Gas Corp. said it has licensed horizontal well technology from CDX Gas LLC under the terms of the settlement of a patent lawsuit between the two companies.
Lortin ea adionullummy nulput velis nulluptat auguer amcons ea consendre modo elis alit lore dolore enit enibh erit verit utatet ipsumsan henim alit ationsequat ut iliquate
First Published December 19, 2012 12:00 am
