Port Houston is moving forward with plans to expand the Houston Ship Channel from the Gulf of Mexico and across Galveston Bay. The Port Commission signed a $92.5 million contract with Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp. for dredging work as the first phase of the channel’s widening and improvement Project 11, the company announced on Nov. 22.
该公司表示，大湖挖泥机和码头将挖掘11.5英里的频道，将海湾的一部分从530英尺扩大到700英尺。它将抽出160万立方英尺的疏yd材料，为鸟类栖息地和牡蛎礁建造一个新岛。
该港口已与美国陆军工程兵团合作，以及Aecom和Gahagan＆Bryant Associates的合资企业，制定了计划，以使52英里频道更宽，更深入，以适应扩建项目的一部分，以容纳更大的容器和石化船。
休斯顿港（Port Houston）是水寄电吨位的最繁忙的港口。它说，休斯顿船舶频道对320万个工作岗位和80019亿美元的年度经济价值有影响，每年有近20,000艘船的运输和200,000辆驳船交通。
With the current channel width, ships must perform a maneuver known as “Texas chicken”—when two vessels moving in opposite directions approach head-on, relying on hydrodynamic forces to safely pass each other.
在以后的阶段，超过24英里的通道将扩大到700英尺。Bayport和Barbours剪裁通道将扩大到约455英尺。上游的海湾也将扩大和加深。
该项目还将包括额外的环境举措，包括在加尔维斯顿湾（Galveston Bay）建造五个鸟类群岛，增加了376英亩的牡蛎礁垫和三个新的沼泽地，总共建造了多达800英亩的土地。
环境al concerns played a role in picking Great Lakes Dredge & Dock for this contract. The port says it chose the approach with the most reduction in overall nitrogen oxide emissions when it selected Great Lakes Dredge & Dock. David Simonelli, the contractor’s COO, said in a statement that the company is investing $4.5 million to cut emissions from its cutter suction dredge and booster station by upgrading their engineering and installing selective catalytic reduction systems, which treat engine exhaust.
Simonelli说：“改造我们的设备表明了我们对休斯顿港口的承诺，并支持我们努力离开与开始时更好的状态的整体环境影响的目标。”
在第一阶段的工作中挖泥计划于2022年初开始，并在一年内完成。AECOM表示，整个项目预计将在2025年底完成。
The Great Lakes Dredge & Dock contract follows the company's move of its corporate headquarters from the Chicago area to Houston in October 2020.
The Houston Ship Channel first opened in 1914. Its previous expansion project lasted from 1968 to 2005. The channel was deepened to 45 ft and made 530 ft wide through Galveston Bay, and environmental restoration projects were constructed with dredged material.
