Savannah harbor deepening finished; dredging began in 2015

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March 10th, 2022

Container ship Ever Far, left, sails down river past the Georgia Ports Authority's Port of Savannah, Sept. 29, 2021, in Savannah, Ga. The Port of Savannah has added another month to its streak of record cargo volumes amid a surge that’s forced U.S. seaports to scramble to meet demand. The Georgia Ports Authority reported nearly 480,000 container units of imports and exports moved across Savannah’s docks last month. That’s an increase of 4% compared with January 2021, when cargo volumes were already unusually high. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton)

A $973 million deepening of the Savannah River shipping channel that links Savannah’s busy seaport to the ocean has been completed 6 1/2 years after dredging began, the agency overseeing the project said Wednesday.

The milestone was announced by the Army Corps of Engineers, which spent more than two decades working on the Savannah harbor expansion that included years of studies, environmental reviews and planning before contractors began scooping mud and sediment from the river bottom.

The project required deepening a 40-mile (64-kilometer) stretch of the Savannah River between the port and the Atlantic Ocean. Dredging began in September 2015 as Savannah and other U.S. ports raced make room for larger cargo ships arriving through an expanded Panama Canal.

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