The Army Corps of Engineers and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development signed a joint agreement to complete the Port of Iberia AGMAC Project’s Validation Study.

In March, they announced an additional $1.2 million for the Port of Iberia’s Acadiana Gulf of Mexico Access channel (AGMAC) Channel Deepening Project, acquired through Community Project Funding Appropriations by U.S. Congressman Clay Higgins.

The AGMAC validation study is an economic evaluation that studies costs versus expenditures. It is required before the Corps of Engineers can begin the construction of the Freshwater Bayou By-Pass Channel and to establish an Operations and Maintenance Program for the total AGMAC channel alignment.

For 20 years, the AGMAC Channel Deepening Project was a federally sponsored project which didn’t receive funding for 18 years.

Since taking over the funding of the project, Port Of Iberia Executive Director Craig Romero said the State of Louisiana added $100 million in funding.

Because of this money from the state, the validations study should serve to improve the value of proceeding with the third stage of its three-stage plan,  constructing a new lock system.

Currently, the Port of Iberia is in stage one, or the planning phase, of its three-stage plan.

Their next step is to construct and place 7 dredging pipelines to begin the costly and arduous dredging process along the southern portion of Freshwater Bayou Canal.

It should start in the 4th quarter of this year. They also plan to repair and remove 13 pipelines with an estimated cost of just over $29 million.

According to Romero, dredging received a massive influx of federal money over the past few years in an effort to improve water transportation across the country, which made securing a dredging project difficult. Further, dredging in Louisiana faces challenges which increase costs.

“The federal government has poured a lot of money into dredging projects for all the major tributaries in the United States and as a result, the dredgers have a lot of work in front of them,” Romero said. “The dredgers are all busy, and they’re making good money, and that’s why there’s a shortage.

“And it’s so very costly to build a dredge. For instance, the dredges we use here are a special size,” Romero continued. “You can’t get one that’s too big because it has to float in the canal, and we have a limited amount of water depth, so you have to be realistic.”

The Port of Iberia won’t stop at dredging, though.

As Romero said he wants to proceed with the construction of a set of locks to replace makeshift locks on Freshwater Bayou Canal. Despite having a unique history, they currently serve little purpose on the canal.

“It’s a makeshift set of locks that was designed and utilized about 20 to 25 years ago when the two largest oil and gas fabrication projects in the country went to the north slope in Alaska, they were fabricated at the Port of Iberia,” Romero said.

After dredging is completed, the AGMAC Project will provide local industries in Iberia and Vermilion parishes with approximately 50 miles of navigable waterway with a 16-foot channel depth.