The Harbor Development department plans for and
manages maintenance and modifications of navigation channel systems,
including the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and the 50-foot channel,
linking the Port of Baltimore with the Atlantic Ocean. The staff
projects annual dredging requirements, identifies placement site
locations, performs feasibility studies, provides engineering and
design, and produces
plans and
specifications. It manages channel and dredged material
placement site construction contracts and manages operations of
dredged material placement sites. Moreover, it coordinates
dredging and placement projects with the U. S. Army Corps of
Engineers, provides dredged material placement site capacity for
private sector maritime businesses, and manages contracts for
monitoring of dredging and placement operations.
The Department
develops and implements planning projects, including short-range
action plans that identify, prioritize, and schedule modifications
to keep the channels safe and capable of handling the largest ships.
It develops long-range plans that compare current channel
capabilities to future maritime shipping needs and designs
major modifications
such as deepening and widening of a channel system to meet those shipping needs.
Moreover, Harbor Development develops 20-year plans that estimate
dredging needs and dredged material placement requirements and
schedules construction and operation of placement options to meet
the projected dredging needs, including private sector placement
needs for Baltimore Harbor.
Harbor Development
also creates action plans and coordinates activities of federal and
state agencies, pilots, and others to implement evaluations and
changes in the navigation systems serving the Port of Baltimore.
Aspects of navigation systems include range lights, buoys, digital
global positioning system (DGPS), water level predicting systems,
and the Physical Oceanographic Real Time System (PORTS), which
enable pilots to use maximum possible ship drafts for cargo.
For more information regarding dredging/placement issues, click on the Safe
Passage web site link (above) or contact MPA's Harbor Development Office by
calling
410-631-1102 or
send email.
