Dredging completed at SEMO Port, harbor

Dredging for the year was completed early this month at the SEMO Port and harbor.

The SEMO Port Authority board of directors discussed the dredging during its regular monthly meeting Monday afternoon.

Dredging in the harbor took place from Sept. 22 through 29; the port dredge was completed Oct. 1. About 7 feet of silt was removed.

The Dredge Goetz performed the task this year. Port executive director Dan Overbey said the Goetz's crew normally dredges north of St. Louis where there are locks and dams, so the Mississippi River is not as deep or fast.

"They had to adjust a little bit," Overbey said.

The board also discussed putting out bids for two lengths of railroad track soon.

The first is connection track that will be about 500 feet long. It will connect two existing tracks to help save transport time, Overbey said.

The other track will be about a half-mile long. Overbey said the port had three existing tracks with others built next to them in the past. A switch already has been installed, and the grading and ballast have been done.

A grant from the Missouri Department of Transportation will allow those three tracks to be completed, Overbey said.

Overbey said they are hopeful the project could be finished by May.

Other business

• Mandi Brink, the port's manager of finance and administration, said invitations have gone out for a party planned to celebrate the port's 40th anniversary and the harbor's 25th anniversary. The party will be Oct. 29 at Ray's Plaza Conference Center in Cape Girardeau.
• The board will have three vacancies as of the end of the year. Treasurer J. Ronald Fischer, secretary Bob Kielhofner and commissioner Jimmie Johnson all have terms that expire Dec. 31.
• The board also heard about six projects underway at the port, including filling a small area of wetlands and work being done near Semo Milling on Route AB at the site of a maintenance building planned for next year. The total for the projects comes to about $2.8 million.

The next SEMO Port board meeting will be Nov. 9.

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