NEWS - Ports & Transportation

SBJ Staff Report

State of the art technology means less dredging of the channel at the Savannah Port according to the Georgia Ports Authority’s Executive Director.  The GPA's silt suspension system, which is used to maintain a depth of 48 feet at four of the Garden City teminal berths, has now been modified to reduce the amount of maintenance dredging that is needed while also boosting oxygen levels in the Savannah River.

“I am proud to report that Garden City Terminal already offers 48 feet at four of its berths, allowing Savannah to accommodate post-Panamax ships today,” said GPA Executive Director Curtix Foltz. “While the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project is essential to the Port of Savannah’s future growth, maintaining 48 feet at berth enables the GPA to accommodate larger vessels, which are beginning to call on East Coast ports in anticipation of the Panama Canal Expansion.”

The GPA now has a silt suspension system consisting of 15 units online at Garden City Terminal. These units substantially reduce the need for maintenance dredging at the berths. The computer-controlled system produces a low-velocity flow that works in tandem with passing tidal currents to keep water moving near the berth, resulting in reduced siltation. The silt suspension units use hydraulic motors driven by vegetable oil.

“The new air-injection system is an elegant combination of two technologies,” said GPA’s Senior Director of Engineering and Facilities Maintenance Wilson Tillotson. “It uses silt suspension to disperse natural sediment into the river and assists with the absorption of oxygen into the water.”

The modified silt suspension unit in Berth 9 injects oxygen into the marine environment. By gently introducing air into the river, dissolved oxygen is added into the water and protects aquatic life from potential diminished oxygen levels. This air-injecting unit operates from May through October, when the dissolved oxygen levels are naturally diminished in the Savannah River.