Bayonne Bridge, the world's third longest steel arch bridge that connects Bayonne, New Jersey with Staten Island, New York, spanning the Kill van Kull, is said to be too low to accommodate large containerships.
The Staten Island Advance reported there are three "drastic" options to fix the problem before containerships are diverted to other ports. They include raising the height of the existing bridge, building a new span, or digging a tunnel under the Kill van Kull.
It said the issue is becoming a matter of urgency due to the expansion of the Panama Canal to accommodate larger vessels by 2015, and the trend among shipping companies to order larger vessels with a capacity of more than 10,000 TEU to produce greater cost efficiencies.
A similar situation has developed in Hong Kong after the Government recently announced a 68.5 metre vessel height restriction under the 1.6 kilometre-long Stonecutters Bridge that will span the entrance to the Kwai Chung Container Terminals next year.
The 11,000-TEU Emma Maersk, the world's biggest containership, is 64.5 metres high, but Samsung Heavy Industries is now marketing 16,000-TEU containerships and others plan to offer 15,000-TEU vessels.
The roadway of Bayonne's arch rests 151 feet above the Kill van Kull, and it already limits the size of ships that can call at the ports of New York and New Jersey, the report said, adding that the biggest ships it can accommodate are 5,000 TEU.
This has prompted fears in the local New York-New Jersey shipping community that ocean liner operators will switch to other ports, where height is not an issue. At present the tallest vessels must wait for low tide to be brought under the Bayonne, with clearance sometimes being as small as a foot.
"We do have incidents," said Andrew McGovern, president of the Sandy Hook Pilots, whose members steer ships under the bridge as often as 40 times a day.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has accelerated its US$300,000 study to formulate a solution before next spring. The US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Coast Guard are evaluating the options on behalf of the agency.
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