The USACE Wilmington District completed annual maintenance dredging at Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point (MOTSU) recently, removing hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of sediment to ensure the installation’s federally authorized navigation channels remain open and operational.
According to USACE, the $6.3 million project is a critical component of their navigation mission and supports the installation’s ability to safely receive and deploy vessels in support of national defense.
“ MOTSU is an ocean terminal, so the waterways must be deep enough for vessels to maintain missions ,” said Clare Williams , navigation project manager with the Wilmington District. “If the vessels can’t make it in, the mission is compromised.”
The annual project removes naturally accumulated sediment from MOTSU’s federal waterways and restores channels to their authorized depths. In a typical year, approximately 500,000 to 600,000 cubic yards of material are dredged and transported to the Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Site, an offshore placement area designated for dredged material.
A portion of this year’s dredging was completed by a small subcontractor in March, while the remaining work was performed by Curtin Maritime between May 19 and June 13.