Georgia politicians urge federal study to deepen Savannah's harbor again

The container ship CMA CGM Marco Polo sails up river past the historic River Street in Savannah, Ga., to the Port of Savannah, Wednesday, May, 26, 2021. All of Georgia's members of Congress have signed a letter that supports studying another round of deepening the shipping channel to the Port of Savannah. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, File)

Every member of Congress from Georgia signed a letter calling for a study to determine whether the busy shipping channel to the Port of Savannah needs to be deepened again after a $937 million harbor expansion that was just completed in 2022.

The offices of Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Rep. Buddy Carter on Tuesday released a copy of the letter sent to top-ranking members of the House and Senate committees that would handle legislation to authorize a study.

The Georgia Ports Authority is pushing for Congress to consider another round of deepening Savannah’s shipping channel. The agency’s leaders say ever-growing classes of cargo ships need deeper water to reach the port with full loads at lower tides — even though less than two years have passed since the Army Corps of Engineers finished the last project, which added 5 feet (1.5 meters) of depth to the waterway.