Making Way for Bigger Ships in the Port of New York and New Jersey; Corps Announces Final Leg of Kill Van Kull 45-foot Deepening and Start of Arthur Kill 41-foot project.

Business Editors/Environment Writers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 2003

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District announced today two major contracts to deepen key shipping channels in the Port of New York and New Jersey:

-- the commencement of the last contract to deepen the Kill van

Kull (KvK) federal channel to 45 feet, which marks a major

milestone of the $733 million deepening project, and;

-- the start this week of work to deepen the Arthur Kill channel

to 41 feet.

Combined, both projects represent a projected investment of nearly a billion dollars to deepen critical arteries in the nation's largest East Coast container port.

"Never before have you seen in this nation or this harbor, such a concentrated array of dredges and associated equipment. All of our project delivery teams are diligently working to build a world-class port and estuary, and in the KvK, we are ahead of schedule and below cost," said Col. John B. O'Dowd, New York District Engineer. "We are making history right now in the Port as we move towards approximately 80 pieces of dredging related equipment in the channels."

The overall $393 million Arthur Kill project, which is scheduled to be completed in 2006, will deepen the channel from its confluence with the beginning of the KvK channel to a half-mile south of the Goethals Bridge in Staten Island. Work under the first contract, which is $50 million, will be performed by Donjon Inc., of Hillside, NJ. Approximately 987,000 cubic yards of sediments under this contract will be removed, processed and used beneficially to cap a former landfill in Bayonne, NJ and a portion of Landfill 1-E in the Hackensack Meadowlands. An additional 150,000 cubic yards of removed rock will be used to enhance an artificial reef in the Atlantic Ocean off the Shark River Inlet. Also, 108,000 cubic yards of clean sediment will be used to cap the Historic Area Remediation Site (HARS) in the Atlantic.

Port Authority Executive Director Joseph J. Seymour said, "Deepening the Arthur Kill Channel to 41 feet is critical to realizing the full potential of the Port Authority's $350 million investment program in Staten Island's Howland Hook Marine Terminal. The deeper channel will serve New York's largest marine terminal that, at the completion of construction, will have expanded berths, on-dock rail and greater container storage capacity."

The deepening of the KvK, the main artery between Newark and Upper New York Bay, is the final part of an effort that will deepen the channel to 45 feet by 2004. Work under the final contract, worth $39 million, will be performed by Jay Cashman Inc. of Dorchester, MA. The dredging is expected to remove approximately 238,000 cubic yards of silt to cap the Bayonne, NJ landfill, with some 15,000 cubic yards of rock to enhance an artificial reef off Shark River Inlet, NJ. An additional 1.3 million cubic yards of clean sediment will be removed and used beneficially to cap the HARS.

Both harbor deepening contracts are cost-shared with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Additionally, the agencies are working together to consolidate several deepening contracts within the harbor to build a 50-foot channel to accommodate the growing fleet of post-Panamax vessels.

The Port of New York and New Jersey directly and indirectly supports over 225,000 jobs in the New York and New Jersey area, and provides consumer goods ranging from cocoa and orange juice to automobiles. Additionally, the Port helps lower the prices that local residents and businesses pay for goods that would otherwise be shipped via distant ports, generating an estimated savings of $750 million a year in reduced transportation costs to business and consumers in addition to the reduced traffic and air pollution impacts associated with transporting the goods into the region by landside methods.