THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 21, 1996 TAG: 9606210538
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 78 lines
The mucky flats at Craney Island have long been the Hampton Roads port industry's field of dreams.
Craney Island is little more than a field of dredge spoils, but port officials and Gov. George F. Allen see opportunity in that mud flat.
Port industry officials want to build Hampton Roads' fourth marine cargo terminal on the Elizabeth River side of Craney Island. Earlier this year, Allen proposed, and the General Assembly approved, a plan to set up a committee to study Craney Island's potential as a fourth terminal.
``The cornerstone of the future of the port of Hampton Roads is Craney Island,'' said Allen, who toured the harbor and island Thursday along with port officials.
``We will need that fourth terminal within 15 years because business here is projected to grow by more than 200 percent over the next 15 years,'' Allen said.
Hampton Roads is the second-largest general cargo port on the Eastern Seaboard, and growing.
The Craney Island Dredged Material Area is four square miles, jutting off Portsmouth's north shore into Hampton Roads, the confluence of the Chesapeake Bay and the James and Elizabeth rivers. It is owned and operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.
``I don't think people understand what a resource Craney Island is to Hampton Roads,'' said George Garris, president of the Hampton Roads Maritime Association.
Craney Island has been, and will continue to serve as, an inexpensive repository for the nearly 4 million cubic yards of dredge material dug off the river and bay bottom to maintain the port's deep channels and berths. The Corps of Engineers has already developed plans to dump dredged materials there until at least 2050.
It costs $1 to $2 per cubic yard to put dredged material at Craney Island, Allen said. By comparison, it costs the port of New York and New Jersey - the East Coast's leading general cargo port - more than $100 per cubic yard to safely dispose of its dredge spoils, he said.
``Who do you think is going to be able to carry on with the big container ships and colliers, us or them?'' Allen said.
But Craney Island is valuable in another way. It is vacant land located on deep water, something ports need to keep growing and that competing ports are finding increasingly difficult to find.
``It's critical because the shipping lines will not come to a place where they see an end to their ability to grow,'' said J. Robert Bray, the Virginia Port Authority's executive director.
The port authority owns terminals in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News. The terminals in Portsmouth and Newport News are operating at near capacity, while the port authority is spending $400 million to expand Norfolk International Terminals.
By July 1, the Virginia Department of Transportation will appoint a committee to start looking at Craney Island. The panel will include representatives from the port authority, Portsmouth, the Corps of Engineers and the maritime association, Allen said.
It is scheduled to make a progress report to the General Assembly by Dec. 1, 1997.
The authorizing legislation was written to assure Portsmouth that any cargo terminal at Craney Island would be built on Craney's east side, into the Elizabeth River.
Portsmouth residents have been concerned that a terminal would be built on Craney's west or north ends, blocking or destroying some residents' views of the harbor.
The committee will also look into the possibility of transferring ownership of some portion of Craney Island to Portsmouth.
``We're planning for the future,'' Allen said. ``To make sure that this port is the best port on the Eastern Seaboard, whether for imports or exports.'' ILLUSTRATION: BILL TIERNAN
The Virginian-Pilot
Gov. George F. Allen, right, leaves an experimental return water
station during a tour Thursday of Craney Island. The station allows
water that has been brought up in the dredging process to escape. by CNB