The Manatee County Port Authority announced at its Feb. 18th meeting its intent to seek bids for a major dredging project at Port Manatee.

Dredging of the port’s new Berth 12 will provide a navigational depth of 41 feet at mean-low-water with an additional foot of draft for ships utilizing the south channel area of Port Manatee. The nearly 1,600-foot-long berth is designed to accommodate containerized shipping and is expected to be operational by late-2010.

“This opens to the door for Port Manatee’s future in containerized shipping,” said David L. McDonald PPM®, the port’s executive director. “This signals confirmation of the final construction of Berth 12 and says, ‘We’re open for business!’”

Berth 12 completes a $200 million port expansion project started in 1999.

The base bid for the project includes excavation and hydraulic dredging of nearly 760,000 cubic yards of material and removal to a certified uplands spoil disposal site.

A bid alternate calls for dredging and removal of an additional 370,000 cubic yards of material.

The port authority will receive sealed bids until Mar. 22nd at 2 p.m. For more information, please see the request for proposal on the port’s website at www.portmanatee.com/requests.aspx.