Savannah is among several East Coast cities eager to deepen shipping channels and raise bridges to accommodate bigger ships in 2014.
East Coast ports from New York to Miami simply aren’t deep enough to handle such mammoth vessels as the CMA CGM Figaro, which measures 1,100 feet long with space for 8,500 cargo containers a tractor-trailer can haul one at a time. With a major expansion of the Panama Canal projected to be finished by the end of 2014, these gargantuan vessels will be able to sail between Asia and the U.S. East Coast.
The canal expansion is pitting seaports up and down the Atlantic coast in a race to dig deeper harbors capable of handling the so-called post-Panamax ships.
“It’s going to almost triple the size of the vessels that are going to be able to transit the canal,” said Kurt J. Nagle, president of the American Association of Port Authorities. “I don’t think it’s overhyped to say it’s a gamechanger.”