THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 3, 1994 TAG: 9410030053
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Virginia News
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
An unexpected buildup of sediment along the upper James River has led to restrictions that are affecting business at the Port of Richmond.
The city-owned port's governing commission has called for emergency dredging to ease restrictions established this week on arrival and departure times. The restrictions apply to about three-quarters of the ships that serve the port.
``When the ships don't come in, we have to lay off people,'' said Roy F. Hoffman, executive vice president of Meehan Overseas Terminal.
Restrictions also reduce the maximum ship draft from 22 feet to 21 feet. That 1 foot can mean thousands of dollars of cargo left behind, said Thomas B. Kennedy, vice president of marine operations for Independent Container Line, the port's largest user.
No one can quite explain why the buildup of sediment, called shoaling, occurred so quickly after last winter's dredging. The Army Corps of Engineers dredged the river last winter. Dredging normally is required about every two years and isn't scheduled again until July.
T.D. Woodward, a project manager for the Corps of Engineers' district office in Norfolk, said the corps is working to do something earlier if it can.
Capt. Martin J. Moynihan, the port's executive director, said the port will start a letter and telephone campaign to Virginia congressmen, asking for help in urging the Corps of Engineers to make the extra dredging a priority.
The port is in the midst of an $8 million improvement project, including paved lots and an extended wharf.
The problem spot is at Turkey Island, just north of Hopewell. Ships cut through a man-made channel to bypass a long loop in the river. Sediment naturally collects where the channel and the river meet. by CNB