Oakland Harbor Deepening Project: Corps of Engineers, Port of Oakland mark -50 milestone

By Brandon Beach
District Public Affairs Office

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 6, 2009 - It took removing more than 12 million cubic yards of ocean sediment, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finally found bottom - minus 50 feet at Oakland Harbor.

U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Port of Oakland Executive Director Omar Benjamin and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers South Pacific Division Commander Col. (P) Rock Donahue congratulate the Corps-Port team that completed the Oakland Harbor -50 Deepening Project during a Sept. 18 ceremony at the Middle Harbor Shoreline Park. (Photo by Brandon Beach)

With tomorrow’s ships being built bigger, the new depth means that the nation’s fifth busiest container port now offers more room.

It’s a major milestone for the San Francisco District and the Port of Oakland that was celebrated Sept. 18 in a project-completion ceremony at the Middle Harbor Shoreline Park.

“It strengthens our position as a global gateway,” said Omar Benjamin, the port’s executive director. “Moving goods through our seaport translates to billions of dollars in economic activity.”

Last year alone, 1,928 vessels passed through the port carrying cargo valued at $33 billion, according to the port’s website.

Naturally, more dollars create more jobs. “Nearly 450,000 jobs in California are related in some way to the amount of cargo that comes into Oakland,” said U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who represents the East Bay’s Ninth District, in her remarks. “It [Port of Oakland] has become one of the most important economic engines in the Bay Area.”

Among the speakers at the one-and-a-half hour ceremony was Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), Col.(P) Rock Donahue, commander of the South Pacific Division, and Viktor Uno, president of the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners.

Timeline to -50

Back in 1996, talk had begun of overhauling the port. A new generation of super-sized ships were on the horizon, some as big as three football fields in length. The port needed to enlarge or risk losing customers.

It started with -42 feet in 1998. Expanding the Inner Harbor Turning Basin, which is the place where boats make right-angled turns, was completed in 2003. Then came -46 in 2005. “When we were digging to -42, the Port already knew it needed to get down to -50,” said Dave Doak, the District’s project manager. “The plan was to catch this new wave of ships.”

With a benefit-to-cost ratio of nearly 11 to 1, “there was no reason not to build,” said Doak. “But it wasn’t until 2005 that our project became considered a national priority.”

Finding the funds to pay for the project’s $432 million price tag was made easier. Federal dollars tipped as high as $244 million during the 12-year project cycle. The rest was locally funded by the port.

This year, -50 feet was reached due in part to a $6.8 million boost from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. “Government, industry and environmental interests cooperated to overcome obstacles to funding, cost and schedule,” said Col.(P) Donahue in his remarks. “That spirit is what will sustain us as problem solvers on the San Francisco Bay in challenging times ahead.”

Environmental Enhancement

With dredging comes dredged material, a valuable resource used to restore environmental habitats. From the project’s early inception, the idea was to put material from the deepening project to reuse.

One of the recipients of the project’s harbor-bottom sediment was in Novato, Calif., where the District is seeking to restore nearly a thousand acres of wetlands at the former Hamilton Army Airfield. A second location where three million cubic yards of the project’s by-product was deposited was at the Montezuma Wetlands, an 1,800-acre privately-sponsored area near Suisun Bay.

In Oakland, a 188-acre area of the harbor was made into a shallow-water habitat using six million cubic yards of material. Home to such endangered birds as the California Least Tern and California Brown Pelican, the habitat is now called the Middle Harbor Enhancement Area. It served as the backdrop to the project completion-ceremony.

“Putting this material to use means we have more nurseries for our fish and more sanctuaries for our birds that have been dependent on the Bay environment for thousands of years,” said Nadine Hitchcock, deputy executive officer for the California State Coastal Conservancy.

In the end, making room for bigger ships came not only as a benefit to California economics but to Bay Area habitats dependent on dredged material to grow.

“I join you in thanking the Army Corps of Engineers and the many partners, stakeholders and elected officials who made this day possible,” wrote House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a letter read by a member of her staff during the ceremony. “The deeper channel will help ensure that the Port will remain one of the Bay Area’s economic powerhouses.”