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| Subject: | CHARLESTON SC DAILY PORT UPDATE | | Date: | Monday, June 20, 2011 | | Priority: | Normal | | Notice: |
PORT LIMITS/INFORMATION
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Maximum Depths - (Fresh)
Harbor Entrance - 47.0 ft
Main Channel - 45.0 ft
BERTH LIMITS/INFORMATION:
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Current maximum drafts allowed at berths:
Hess - Max draft - 40'00
Delfin - Max Draft - 42'00
Chem Marine - Max Draft - 38'00 MLW
Kinder Morgan - berth 1 - 40'00
Kinder Morgan - berth 2 - 40'00
Kinder Morgan - berth 3 - 30'00"
Kinder Morgan - berth 4 - Max draft 40'00, tide needed for anything
deeper than 38'00
BP - Max draft 30'00" Low water / Salt
Wando Terminal - Max draft 43'00 MLW - tide neede for anything deeper than
43'01" Max BM No restriction North
Charleston Terminal - Max draft 45'00 MLW - Max BM No restriction
CST - Max draft 45'00 MLW - Max BM No restrictions
Veterans Terminal 35' MLW tidal restricted
Nucor - Max draft 25'00 (movements daylight & tidal restricted), Max LOA
550', Max Beam 52'
Per pilots - restrictions for Tanker movements:
Drafts of 38'00 or less may transit at anytime Drafts of 38'01 to 40'00 -
window: Start in 1 Hour before low water until 2 hours before high water
Drafts of 40'01 to 41'00 - window: start in 2 hours after low water until
2 hours before high water
Drafts of 41'01 to 42'00 - window: start in 3 hours after low water until
3 hours before high water
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VESSEL TRAFFIC:
KMI4 - ARCTIC BLIZZARD - ETA 0001/23RD
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FEDERAL, STATE & LOCAL FILING REQUIREMENTS:
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96 Hours - advance notice of arrival required by USCG
48 Hours - advance receipt of crew list by Immigration for any vessel
arriving from a foreign port, or arriving coast wise with detained crew.
24 Hours (minimum) - Foreign cargo must have manifest submitted to
Customs & Border Patrol AMS. Bond must be filed for Foreign flag vessels
or U.S. flag arriving with foreign cargo aboard. 24 Hours - advance
notice to Pilots
24 Hours - advance fax of crew list and approved visitors required by
Terminal.
72 Hours - post port call, the Port Authority requires bill of lading
figures for all bulk cargo.
Port Security - All persons doing business within Port Authority property
must have security pass from SCPA. All persons wanting unescorted access
to any vessel must have a valid TWIC.
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Current Articles:
Agreement to deepen Charleston Harbor being signed
Associated Press
CHARLESTON — Lawmakers are joining state and federal officials as work on
deepening the Charleston Harbor moves forward.
South Carolina’s two U.S. senators join congressmen Jim Clyburn and Tim
Scott Monday at the signing of an agreement between the Army Corps of
Engineers and the State Ports Authority.
The corps recently announced that it will spend $150,000 in the remaining
months of this federal fiscal year on a study of deepening the harbor.
Lawmakers hope to get an additional $1.2 million in the budget for the
federal fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 to continue the work.
The total cost of the study over as long as five years is expected to be
$20 million. That cost will be split between Washington and the state Ports
Authority.
Port, Army Corps to begin harbor dredging study
By David Slade
dslade@postandcourier.com
Monday, June 20, 2011
The first container ship arrived at the Port of Charleston in 1966. It was
carrying the equivalent of 600 20-foot-long steel boxes loaded with an
assortment of goods.
Thirty years later, Maersk Line built the Regina, the world's largest
container ship at the time. It was designed to haul the equivalent of 6,000
20-foot-long containers.
Once its expansion is completed in 2014, the Panama Canal will be able to
accommodate much larger container ships.
The Regina, half a football field longer than the aircraft carrier USS
Yorktown at Patriots Point, caused quite a stir when it first called on
Charleston in 1998, but now it hardly stands out at all on the local
waterfront.
"Today, we have four ships a week bigger than that one," said Byron Miller,
vice president for marketing, public relations and planning for the S.C.
State Ports Authority.
A recent example: Just 10 days ago the MSC Charleston, all 1,065 feet of
her, docked at Wando Terminal ferrying more than 8,000 20-foot-equivalent
units, or TEUs.
That, in essence, is what the fuss over the Charleston Harbor deepening
project is all about: Container ships keep getting bigger and bigger, and
they need increasingly deeper navigation channels so they can get in and
out of ports without running aground.
A more than $5 billion project to widen and deepen the Panama Canal will
allow so-called post-Panamax ships to bring cargo from Asia across the
Pacific to the East Coast, rather than going to ports on the West Coast and
shipping the containers over land by truck or rail.
Currently, the post-Panamax ships carrying 5,000 TEUs or more travel to
Charleston across the North Atlantic, or via the Suez Canal.
Ships the size of the MSC Charleston and larger are expected to become the
East Coast standard, rather than the exception, when the expanded Panama
Canal is ready to accommodate them in 2014.
Last year, no ship carrying 8,000 or more TEUs called on Charleston.
This year, the port said, it is averaging three such vessels each week. But
they must arrive and depart at high tide because those ships require water
nearly 48 feet deep.
The shipping channel now has a federally authorized depth of 45 feet, and
it's routinely dredged to about 47 feet to keep ahead of the silting that
reduces depth over time, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The
work to make the channel 45 feet deep was completed not that long ago, in 2004.
This morning, the SPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will sign an
agreement that starts the ball rolling on the deepening of the Charleston
shipping channel, a project expected to take a decade or longer, with
construction costs estimated at $310 million if the depth is changed to 50
feet.
The SPA wants the channel deepened to 50 feet, so that post-Panamax ships
can come and go without relying on the tides.
The difference from the current depth, 5 feet, may not sound like much, but
getting there could take, according to the Army Corps, between 10 and 13 years.
The agreement set for signing this morning will begin a feasibility study
phase that should last five to eight years, the Army Corps estimates, so
long as the federal government continues to provide necessary funding.
Ports up and down the eastern seaboard, and in the Gulf of Mexico, are all
scrambling to deepen their shipping lanes, and in some cases build higher
bridges, in order to handle the larger ships.
Many questions
The feasibility phase for Charleston will run parallel with a federal
environmental impact study. Among some of the questions involved are:
--How would a greater depth change the tidal flow of salt water up the
Cooper and Wando rivers? The Bushy Park Reservoir by Goose Creek is the
primary source of drinking water for the region.
--What would the impact be on salinity-sensitive marsh areas, if the mix of
salt and fresh water changes?
--Would dredging to a greater depth threaten the vast, freshwater
Middendorf Aquifer that sits below the Charleston area? The aquifer is the
main source of drinking water for Mount Pleasant and is relied upon by
local industries with intensive water needs.
--How would a greater depth change currents in the harbor and shipping channel?
--What would happen to the oxygen levels in the water, and how would that
affect the ability of fish to breathe?
The feasibility phase is expected to take about as long as the design,
engineering and construction stages combined.
Finding funding
The project has often been described as a deepening of the Charleston
Harbor, but it goes far beyond that. Having a shipping channel 50 feet deep
would require dredging 12 miles beyond the Charleston jetties.
Currently, the Army Corps dredges 3 miles beyond the jetties, where a
natural depth of 47 feet begins.
In the near-term, the largest challenge for the project involves securing
the necessary federal funding. Right now, the federal government has
committed just $150,000, a tiny but a crucial amount, because without some
federal funding, the study could not begin.
Earlier this year, the funding was ensnared by a political fight over
earmarks, the now-unpopular practice of members of Congress directing
dollars to project in their districts outside of the normal budgeting process.
The agreement between the Corps and SPA will commit authority to providing
matching funds for the federal dollars, and then the proponents of
deepening the shipping channel will get back to work advocating for
additional funding in the federal budget year that begins this fall.
Lt. Col. Jason Kirk, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’
Charleston District, and Jim Newsome, CEO of the State Ports Authority,
will sign the harbor-deepening feasibility study cost-sharing agreement at
a private ceremony at 10 a.m. in Charleston.
Other attendees will include: U.S. Rep. James Clyburn; U.S. Sen. Jim
DeMint; U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham; and U.S. Rep. Tim Scott.
At the same time, the Army Corps plans to set up a special website today
for the deepening project. It can be found at: www.sac.usace.army.mil.
============================================================
CURRENT ISSUES:
06/21/11 - 1000 - SCSPA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
FUTURE/ONGOING ISSUES:
06/23/11 - 0818 - NAVOPS MEETING - HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS
08/03/11 - 0830 - MARSEC 3 TRAINING EXCERCISE
2018 - ETA FOR NEW CHARLESTON PORT TERMINAL TO BE COMPLETED
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SECURITY LEVEL: MARSEC 1
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CURRENT HURRICANE STATUS - 4 - SEASONAL - NO STORMS EXPECTED
===================================================================
Tides for Charleston (Customhouse Wharf) starting with June 17, 2011.
Day High Tide Height Sunrise Moon Time % Moon
/Low Time Feet Sunset Visible
M 20 Low 6:06 AM 0.1 6:12 AM Set 10:55 AM 82
20 High 12:09 PM 4.8 8:31 PM Rise 11:54 PM
20 Low 6:13 PM 0.6
Tu 21 High 12:33 AM 5.3 6:12 AM Set 11:51 AM 74
21 Low 6:49 AM 0.3 8:31 PM
21 High 12:57 PM 4.8
21 Low 7:03 PM 0.9
W 22 High 1:17 AM 5.0 6:12 AM Rise 12:22 AM 65
22 Low 7:32 AM 0.4 8:31 PM Set 12:45 PM
22 High 1:46 PM 4.9
22 Low 7:55 PM 1.1
Th 23 High 2:02 AM 4.8 6:12 AM Rise 12:50 AM 55
23 Low 8:16 AM 0.4 8:31 PM Set 1:39 PM
23 High 2:35 PM 4.9
23 Low 8:50 PM 1.2
F 24 High 2:50 AM 4.6 6:13 AM Rise 1:19 AM 46
24 Low 9:01 AM 0.5 8:31 PM Set 2:33 PM
24 High 3:25 PM 5.1
24 Low 9:46 PM 1.2
Sa 25 High 3:40 AM 4.5 6:13 AM Rise 1:50 AM 37
25 Low 9:47 AM 0.4 8:31 PM Set 3:27 PM
25 High 4:16 PM 5.2
25 Low 10:41 PM 1.1
Su 26 High 4:31 AM 4.4 6:13 AM Rise 2:23 AM 28
26 Low 10:36 AM 0.4 8:32 PM Set 4:24 PM
26 High 5:05 PM 5.4
26 Low 11:34 PM 1.0
M 27 High 5:22 AM 4.4 6:14 AM Rise 3:01 AM 19
27 Low 11:24 AM 0.3 8:32 PM Set 5:21 PM
27 High 5:54 PM 5.6
Tu 28 Low 12:24 AM 0.8 6:14 AM Rise 3:43 AM 12
28 High 6:13 AM 4.5 8:32 PM Set 6:17 PM
28 Low 12:13 PM 0.1
28 High 6:41 PM 5.8
W 29 Low 1:11 AM 0.6 6:14 AM Rise 4:32 AM 6
29 High 7:01 AM 4.6 8:32 PM Set 7:12 PM
29 Low 1:00 PM 0.0
29 High 7:27 PM 6.0
Th 30 Low 1:56 AM 0.4 6:15 AM Rise 5:28 AM 2
30 High 7:49 AM 4.7 8:32 PM Set 8:04 PM
30 Low 1:47 PM -0.2
30 High 8:12 PM 6.1
F 1 Low 2:40 AM 0.2 6:15 AM Rise 6:28 AM 0
1 High 8:35 AM 4.8 8:32 PM Set 8:52 PM
1 Low 2:34 PM -0.3
1 High 8:55 PM 6.2
Sa 2 Low 3:23 AM 0.0 6:16 AM Rise 7:32 AM 0
2 High 9:21 AM 4.9 8:32 PM Set 9:35 PM
2 Low 3:21 PM -0.3
2 High 9:39 PM 6.2
Su 3 Low 4:07 AM -0.1 6:16 AM Rise 8:38 AM 2
3 High 10:08 AM 5.0 8:32 PM Set 10:14 PM
3 Low 4:10 PM -0.3
3 High 10:23 PM 6.2
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OFFSHORE WATERS FORECAST
Today...SW winds 15 to 20 kt...decreasing to 10 to 15 kt late morning and
this afternoon. Seas 2 to 4 ft. Patchy smoke this afternoon. Vsby 1 to 3 nm
early this afternoon.
Tonight...SW winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas 2 to 3 ft. A slight chance of showers
and tstms.
Tue...SW winds 5 to 10 kt...becoming SE in the afternoon. Seas 2 to 3 ft.
Tue Night...S winds 10 kt. Seas 2 ft.
Wed...SW winds 5 to 10 kt...becoming S 10 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Seas 2
to 3 ft.
Wed Night...SW winds 15 kt. Seas 2 to 4 ft.
Thu...SW winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas 3 to 4 ft. A slight chance of showers and
tstms.
Fri...SW winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas 2 to 3 ft. A chance of showers and tstms.
| | Notice posted on Monday, June 20, 2011 | |
Disclaimer
For quality assurance purposes please note well that while the above information is regularly vetted for accuracy it is not intended to replace the local knowledge or expertise pertaining to port conditions of our marine operations personnel. Port précis should always be verified by contacting the corresponding marine department of a particular location for the most up-to-date information.
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