Deepening the Arthur Kill Channel is part of the overall New York and New Jersey Harbor Deepening $1.6 billion project to deepen certain Federal Navigation channels to 50 feet in order to allow the safe and economically efficient passage of the newest container ships serving the Port of New York and New Jersey.
The Arthur Kill Channel 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.
The S-AK-3 contract was awarded in January 2013 for deepening the Arthur Kill Channel to 50 feet between Staten Island, N.Y. and Elizabeth, N.J. Construction in the contract area which included drilling and underwater blasting was completed in the summer of 2014 and will allow large ships to safely navigate to reach the New York Container Terminal.
This is 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 Arthur Kill 40 foot channel deepening contract was awarded in December 2014 with construction that began in 2015. The contract area is between Richmond County, N.Y./borough of Staten Island, N.Y.C. and Linden, Union County, N.J. This contract will provide for more efficient transit to and from the Phillips 66 refinery located in Linden. Construction could involve drilling and blasting of shale bedrock, in deepening the existing 35 foot channel to 40 feet.
In addition to the direct and significant project navigation benefits, this project has helped remediate numerous existing landfills and brown fields in the region, restore critical lost wetland marshes and aquatic habitats, created numerous fish reefs along both states coasts, and many other productive, useful outputs.
The project goal is to complete the 50 foot deepening and turn over to an established dredging maintenance program, the same time as the wider, deeper Panama Canal will accommodate larger ships. Using the expanded Panama Canal with a 50-foot draft will reduce the CO2 footprint per 20-foot Equivalent units (TEUs).
Once the navigation channels are deepened, the discipline of maintenance begins. To ensure the uninterrupted flow of commerce, planned dredging of navigation channels, berthing piers and anchorage areas must continue because fine-grained waterborne sediment settle and accumulate on the bottom of waterways, causing shoaling which interferes with safe navigation.
Video: NY and NJ Harbor Deepening Project Comprehensive overview
Arthur Kill Channel Deepening Contract Information (12/2014)
Arthur Kill Channel Contract Area (12/2014)
Arthur Kill Channel Noise and Vibration Reports