BRADENTON, Fla. - Georgia can now officially begin spending state funds to jump start construction on the $706 million Port of Savannah harbor expansion.
A Project Partnership Agreement authorizing the work to begin was inked Wednesday between the state, the Georgia Department of Transportation, the Georgia Ports Authority, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which will oversee construction.
The agreement allows the Corps to use state funds appropriated by the Legislature through the use of general obligation financing to begin construction on the project to deepen and length the harbor while the Corps waits for federal appropriations for the remaining funds.
The state's 40% share of the cost is being financed with about $266 million in bonds.
The federal government's 60% share of the cost continues to waits for congressional approval.
Inaction on federal release of port funding has prevented the Savannah project from getting under way until the state financed its portion of the cost.
"After years of regulatory purgatory, we finally cleared the last hurdle and hope to begin dredging in the Savannah River before the end of the year," said Gov. Nathan Deal. "This pivotal link in our logistics network will aid in the prompt delivery of valuable cargo to and from every corner of Georgia and, in turn, preserve and create jobs and encourage economic growth."
The Corps said the state funds will now allow it to begin contracting to complete early portions of the work such as environmental mitigation and extending the shipping channel an additional seven miles into the Atlantic Ocean.
"The signing of the PPA marks the starting point for construction on the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project," said the Corps' Savannah District Commander Col. Thomas Tickner. "This sets us on the path to improving transportation of goods into and out of this harbor in an environmentally sensitive manner, which will benefit the area, the region and the nation."
The extra five feet of depth from the project will allow larger ships with 78% more cargo containers to enter the Port of Savannah with shipments.
Those megaships, known as Post-Panamax II vessels, will be transiting the Panama Canal once it is widened. That $5.25 billion expansion is now expected to be done by early 2016.
Ports along the U.S. coasts are scrambling to prepare for the Post-Panamax ships, as well as the jobs and income they promise from increased cargo activity.
Many ports, like Savannah, require deeper harbors to accommodate the bigger ships.
At the Port of Miami, about 480 miles south of Savannah, legal headwinds threaten to delay work already under way.
Miami, the closest port to the Panama Canal but farther away from distribution centers, is well under way toward $220 million in work deepening its harbor to 52 feet from 44 feet, and widening the shipping channel.
Last week, however, a group of environmentalists filed a federal suit seeking an injunction to stop Miami's dredging.
The lawsuit claims there are ongoing violations of the Endangered Species Act threatening sensitive corals and reefs beyond those allowed in permits issued for the work.
