MORGAN CITY — Plans are in place to move the northern portion of the Atchafalaya Channel to the east and away from shoaling that occurs in the channel’s centerline to allow for deeper navigation.

Mark Emmerson, commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard’s local Aids to Navigation team, said that change will take place once a new set of soundings have been received from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard has time to get to it.

“You’re 16 (feet), and we can probably get it to 22 feet in that area,” Emmerson said.

He also said that all buoys north of Buoy 54 have been downsized to smaller foam buoys, which will facilitate the Coast Guard’s ability to better align the channel with the Corps’ dredging efforts.

Also, he reported that in Horseshoe Bend, all of the steel and larger buoys were downsized, so once Crewboat Cut opens, the Coast Guard will be able to disestablish the Horseshoe.

He noted that another temporary buoy has been put up on the north side of Horseshoe Bend due to the shoaling.

Also on Crewboat Cut, Sarah Nash of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ New Orleans office reported that the Corps’ Engineering division is working on cost estimates for borings and surveys that will be required before rock is placed on Crewboat Cut and it is opened to the public.

Work also still is ongoing on the Dredged Material Management Plan review.

As far as the agitation dredging field trials, she said all surveys had been complete in late December, but the data is still being complied and analyzed for the formal report, which will be provided to the port to document the results.

As for the next step, Jonathan Hird of Moffatt & Nichol in Baton Rouge, the firm the port has hired to help solve its agitation dredging problems, said that it may be advantageous to use a Water Injection Dredge next in the Atchafalaya Bar Channel.

Although it is more expensive than using side cast dredging apparatus equipment, a water injection dredge currently is available and owned by Weeks Dredging.

Side cast equipment, which is expected to generate positive results because it would take material out of the water and shoot it out into another location of the water, would have to be constructed because none is available.

“It would be our recommendation that, given the much lower level of investment required to implement the WID demo, it would make most sense to implement that strategy next,” Hird wrote in his report.

MORGAN CITY — Plans are in place to move the northern portion of the Atchafalaya Channel to the east and away from shoaling that occurs in the channel’s centerline to allow for deeper navigation.

Mark Emmerson, commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard’s local Aids to Navigation team, said that change will take place once a new set of soundings have been received from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard has time to get to it.

“You’re 16 (feet), and we can probably get it to 22 feet in that area,” Emmerson said.

He also said that all buoys north of Buoy 54 have been downsized to smaller foam buoys, which will facilitate the Coast Guard’s ability to better align the channel with the Corps’ dredging efforts.

Also, he reported that in Horseshoe Bend, all of the steel and larger buoys were downsized, so once Crewboat Cut opens, the Coast Guard will be able to disestablish the Horseshoe.

He noted that another temporary buoy has been put up on the north side of Horseshoe Bend due to the shoaling.

Also on Crewboat Cut, Sarah Nash of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ New Orleans office reported that the Corps’ Engineering division is working on cost estimates for borings and surveys that will be required before rock is placed on Crewboat Cut and it is opened to the public.

Work also still is ongoing on the Dredged Material Management Plan review.

As far as the agitation dredging field trials, she said all surveys had been complete in late December, but the data is still being complied and analyzed for the formal report, which will be provided to the port to document the results.

As for the next step, Jonathan Hird of Moffatt & Nichol in Baton Rouge, the firm the port has hired to help solve its agitation dredging problems, said that it may be advantageous to use a Water Injection Dredge next in the Atchafalaya Bar Channel.

Although it is more expensive than using side cast dredging apparatus equipment, a water injection dredge currently is available and owned by Weeks Dredging.

Side cast equipment, which is expected to generate positive results because it would take material out of the water and shoot it out into another location of the water, would have to be constructed because none is available.

“It would be our recommendation that, given the much lower level of investment required to implement the WID demo, it would make most sense to implement that strategy next,” Hird wrote in his report.