Port Manatee Berth 12 dredging under way

Dredging has started at Port Manatee for the planned Berth 12. The dredging project calls for digging out the berth to a depth of 41 feet at mean-low-water and extending it from 1,000 feet to 1,584 feet.

The berth, the final piece of Port Manatee's 11-year, $200 million port expansion, will allow the port to accommodate Panamax-sized vessels. Creation of the new Birth 12, which is adjacent to a planned 52-acre container terminal on the port's south side, is aimed to attract new cargo expected at Gulf of Mexico and East Coast ports with the completion of the Panama Canal expansion in 2014.

Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. installed nearly three miles of slurry pipe for the project. Temporary pipes connect to permanent pipes creating a passageway for dredged material to move under Port Manatee's South Dock Street, CSX railroad tracks, Port Manatee Commerce Center's entrance and U.S. Highway 41. More than 1.1 million cubic yards of dredged material will be pumped to a soil disposal site adjacent to the port at HRK's Eastport Terminal.