The Corpus Christi Hispanic Chamber Of Commerce hosted the "State of the Port" today, announcing one major project.
"The great news is that the port is very healthy," said Port of Corpus Christi Chair Judy Hawley. "We're healthy financially; we're healthy in terms of tonnage."
Although the state of our port is great, city and state leaders are working toward a major project, the widening and deepening of our ship channel.
"Some of the tankers that come in now, they're so heavily loaded, that they have to ‘lighter,’" said Hawley. "Take off part of their product, before they can come into the channel."
Hawley says this expansion is important, because those ships are only getting larger.
Right now, our ship channel is 45 feet deep.
The project would expand it to 52 feet and widen it to 530 feet.
By doing this, our channel would be able to accommodate most of the world's shipping fleet.
"It's critical," Hawley said. "Not only for Texas, but also for economy of the United States."
The project will cost around $300,000,000.
The state already has half the funding needed for this expansion, now all they need is for the federal government to match it.
"We're about 99% done with design and engineering," said Hawley. "We just need the funding."
No matter what, Hawley has faith that the expansion will become a reality.
However, there's no timeline laid out for the project yet.
Source: KrisTV
Posted On:21-Aug-2015 Read More ... Credits:
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