en.Wedoany.com Reported - A 350-foot dredge vessel is set to arrive at Georgetown Harbor this month, initiating the first channel dredging project in a decade. The cutterhead dredge will remove approximately 560,000 cubic yards of silt, restoring the federal channel along the Harborwalk, the former steel mill, and the former state port terminal to a depth of 12 feet.
Sonja Carter, project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, told an audience of about 80 people this week at the S.C. Maritime Museum that the contractor is laying pipelines. The project is expected to be completed by September, ahead of the Georgetown Wooden Boat Show hosted by the museum.
The Corps previously maintained the channel to a depth of 27 feet for oceangoing vessels docking at the steel mill and port. Due to declining traffic, the last dredging occurred in 2008, and the last ship docked at the state port terminal in 2016.
Georgetown County now owns the 40-acre port area and has hired a company to develop a redevelopment plan. Public input meetings will begin in September. A private investor is also planning mixed-use development for the steel mill site and the idle International Paper Co. plant upstream on the Sampit River.
County Administrator Angela Christian said the goal when the dredging plan was initiated three years ago was to restore economic activity along the waterfront while long-term redevelopment efforts take shape. "It will kickstart redevelopment," she said.
The county raised $6 million for the harbor dredging from a capital projects sales tax approved by voters in 2014. The work was delayed as costs soared after the measure passed. The county still has those funds, and Christian said she will propose using the money to extend the Harborwalk from its endpoint at Rainey Park to the port. Georgetown Mayor Jay Doyle supports the idea and used the dredging project meeting to outline plans for pedestrian, trolley, and water taxi routes. But before all that happens, Carter said, "We'll have some minor inconveniences."
The dredge will operate 24/7, starting near East Bay Park and moving upstream to a disposal site on the south bank of the river opposite the paper mill. Michael Kitchell of Southern Dredging Co., the contractor for the $3.6 million project, described the process as "a bit like a bull in a china shop." The dredge, about 350 feet long and 40 feet wide, is equipped with a 3,000-horsepower pump and is very noisy. Anchors, pipelines, and service barges will also be in the channel, and a "Notice to Mariners" from the U.S. Coast Guard will provide updates on the work location. "Communication will be key," Kitchell said, "so we hope to get it done as quickly as possible and stay out of everyone's way."
Carter said the cutterhead dredge will create temporary silt clouds. "That's normal. It's temporary," she said. An environmental assessment found the project would have "minor impacts" and noted that the lower Sampit River's existing water quality is "significantly impaired." When asked how long the channel would maintain the new depth, Carter said the Corps lacks sufficient data to estimate, and monitoring will occur quarterly after dredging.
Carter explained that the Corps chose the 12-foot depth over the authorized 27 feet because it is more cost-effective while still accommodating commercial vessels. The project received $6.5 million in congressional appropriations, but the actual cost was lower than estimated because Southern Dredging Co. is based in Charleston and already working locally. "We asked to keep that extra funding," Carter said.
