Harbor Enhancement

Prosperity in progress logo

WILMINGTON HARBOR NAVIGATION IMPROVEMENT PROJECT

Demand for access to the Wilmington Harbor is growing as North Carolina strengthens its position as a freight gateway. In order to keep pace with demand and open new opportunities, the Port of Wilmington seeks to enhance its navigational channel to allow deep draft vessels to efficiently navigate to the Port.

A more efficient channel would modernize the Port, attract more import and export business, help mitigate East Coast congestion, and help North Carolina Ports become an even stronger player in this competitive landscape, thereby supporting the economies of Wilmington, New Hanover County, eastern North Carolina and the entire state.

KEY OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

  • Maintain Wilmington’s presence as a competitive U.S. East Coast port and as a growing economic catalyst for North Carolina and the nation
  • Accommodate recent and anticipated growth in cargo vessel traffic
  • Improve the efficiency of operations for cargo vessels at the Port of Wilmington
  • Allow larger and more efficient cargo vessels to use the Wilmington Navigational Harbor
  • Allow for the Port of Wilmington to remain a port-of-call for major East Coast containership services

SELECTED PLAN

The preferred plan would deepen the Wilmington Navigational Harbor to 47 feet, allowing it to accommodate larger, deep draft container vessels, and enabling carriers to continue to utilize the Port of Wilmington as a port-of-call for U.S. East Coast-Asia services.

Cargo container vessels in three sizes. Feeder ship, panamax class and ultra-large container ship vector illustration

BENEFITS OF THE HARBOR ENHANCEMENT

  • Allows larger, deep-draft container vessels in U.S. East Coast-Asia trade to access the Port.
  • Enables more efficient cargo movement in and out of the Carolinas.
  • Attracts more import and export business.
  • Boosts job growth. Every billion dollars of economic output through North Carolina Ports represents 5,696 jobs in the state, with NC Ports directly and indirectly supporting 87,700 jobs across North Carolina.

NEXT STEPS

The WHNIP must undergo the NEPA review process which ensures the decisions made by Federal agencies are environmentally sound. NEPA requires review of the effects of all federal, federally assisted, and federally licensed actions. This process entails determining what needs must be addressed, identifying alternative ways of meeting the need, analyzing the environmental impacts of each alternative, and which alternative to pursue and how to pursue it if necessary.

Additional steps include:

  • Avoid impacts to groundwater resources.
  • Avoid impacts to existing waterfront infrastructure.
  • Avoid or minimize impacts to recreational boaters and commercial fishing vessels using the channel.
  • Avoid or minimize impacts to natural and historic resources.

aerial view of cranes in port

Additional Information

To learn more about this project, visit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers website.