DESCRIPTION: Maintenance and stewardship of the 31 miles of navigation channels within the Upper and Lower New York Harbor to include engineering and design; ocean placement testing; and maintenance dredging of various channels that comprise of New York Harbor. Manage and monitor ocean placement of dredged material at Atlantic Ocean’s Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS) and man-made reef sites that accept dredged material from navigation projects within the New York Harbor; as well as, oversee all sampling, testing, and evaluation of testing data for all proposed ocean disposal projects. Operate and Maintain the Caven Point Marine Terminal. Maintenance.
AUTHORIZATION: The New York Harbor Federal Navigation project consists of the southerly entrance, Bayside (a.k.a. 35 ft. Sandy Hook Channel) and 35 ft. Main Ship Channels (a.k.a. Chappell Hill) adopted in 1884, modified 1933, 1937, 1958, 1965, 1982, and modified in the Water Resources Development Acts of 1986 and 1990. Also, the Anchorage Channel adopted in 1930 and modified in the Water Resources Development Acts of 1986 and 1990; the removal of Craven Shoal to a depth of 30 feet, and a channel between Staten Island and Hoffman and Swinburne Islands to a depth of 16 feet. The Channel along New Jersey Pierhead Line to depth of 20 feet was adopted in 1935. Additionally, Anchorage Areas (Gravesend Bay and Red Hook Flats) adopted in 1965 and modified in 1982.
COMMERCE: New York Harbor contains five interconnected but separate channels and two adjacent anchorages all of which are used by international vessels, harbor pilots and the U.S. Coast Guard and supports 109 million tons of commerce per year (2022 Waterborne Commerce Data).
BACKGROUND: Anchorages are maintained alternating years. Over the past few years, shoaling has resulted in a yearly maintenance cycle of the Sandy Hook Channel. The last maintenance dredging cycle within NY Harbor included the dredging of critically shoaled areas in Sandy Hook Channel in 2024 with the dredged materials beneficially used at the Seabright Offshore Borrow Area.
The previous maintenance dredging cycles of Red Hook Flats Anchorages was performed in 2023 and previous maintenance dredging cycles at Sandy Hook Channel was performed in 2021, 2020, and 2018. The dredged material was removed and reused beneficially in various ways.
STATUS: In FY2025, funding will provide for the continued management and monitoring of ocean placement site (i.e. HARS) for dredged material that have been agreed to between the New York District and USEPA Region 2. These plans require extensive chemical, biological and physical surveys of select areas within the site. Commonly performed Operations & Maintenance (O&M) work including monitoring of the channel shoaling conditions; coordination with the users and stakeholders; close-out of the FY2024 dredging contract for Sandy Hook Channel; and the upcoming solicitation and award of the Sandy Hook Channel maintenance dredging contract in FY2025. The production of an annual hydrographic condition survey and publication of the Controlling Depth Report on the District’s website below, are also scheduled for FY2025.
https://www.nan.usace.army.mil/Missions/Navigation/Controlling-Depth-Reports/
CONTACT:
Jun Yan, P.E.
Asset / Project Manager
P: (917) 790-8437
Email: jun.yan@usace.army.mil
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District
26 Federal Plaza
New York, NY 10278
http://www.nan.usace.army.mil
District Area: NY # 5, 8, 10, 11 and NJ # 6, 8, 10