Last Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden visited Penn’s Landing to tour ongoing Delaware River Main Channel Deepening operations and discuss the importance of dredging and maritime commerce to the economy.
Biden was joined by Sen. Bob Casey and Reps. Bob Brady and Chaka Fattah from Pennsylvania, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District Commander Lt. Col. Michael Bliss, state and local officials and port and industry representatives.
Officials toured the 54, a mechanical bucket dredge owned and operated by Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company under a $25 million contract to deepen the northernmost section of the channel, between the Ben Franklin and Walt Whitman Bridges in Philadelphia.
The deepening of the Delaware River federal navigation channel from 40 to 45 feet, from Philadelphia to the sea, is now well past the halfway point, with five dredging contracts completed and two contracts under construction.
The $300 million project will provide for more efficient shipping to and from the Delaware River ports, mostly by accommodating the larger container vessels that will soon be coming through an expanded Panama Canal.
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Dredging Today Staff