• CARGO
  • Types of Cargo
  • Service & Operations
  • Cargo Statistics
• CRUISES
  • Parking & Rates
  • Schedules
  • Accommodations
  • Get Directions
• BUSINESS
  • Trade Development
  • Rate Schedules
  • Solicitations
  • EEO
  • MBE Program
  • Business Forms
• PORT INFO
  • POB eBroadcast
  • Coke Point Risk Assessment
  • Port of Baltimore Directory
  • MPA Divisions
  • Location Information
  • Press Releases & Port Magazine
  • WTC Hurricane Preparedness Plan
  • Terminal Hurricane Preparedness Plan
  • Planning & Harbor Development
  • Resources & Links
  • Employment
  • Customer Information Center
  • Kids' Corner
  • FAQ
  • Contact Us
• PORT SECURITY
  • TWIC Regulations
  • Office Directory
  • Access Control Requirements
  • Approved Escort Companies
  • Photography Policy
  • Truckers Access
  • Vetting of Foreign Nationals
  • mVisitor
  • Java plug-in for mVisitor
  • eModal Registration Instructions
• TERMINALS
  • Seagirt Marine Terminal
  • Dundalk Marine Terminal
  • Fairfield Marine Terminal
  • South Locust Point
  • North Locust Point
  • Intermodal (ICTF)
  • Maintenance
  • Private Terminals
  • Terminal Holidays

Port Information

Planning & Harbor Development

Designs for Your Port's Future

For more information regarding Construction and Architectural Engineering projects at the MPA, click to view our Solicitations web page or contact MPA's Engineering Office at 410-385-4447 or Planning Office at 410-385-4469.

Planning

Harbor Development Information

The Harbor Development department plans for and manages maintenance and modifications of navigation channel systems, including the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and the 50-foot channel, linking the Port of Baltimore with the Atlantic Ocean.  The staff projects annual dredging requirements, identifies placement site locations, performs feasibility studies, provides engineering and design, and produces plans and specifications. 

It manages channel and dredged material placement site construction contracts and manages operations of dredged material placement sites.  Moreover, it coordinates dredging and placement projects with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, provides dredged material placement site capacity for private sector maritime businesses, and manages contracts for monitoring of dredging and placement operations.

The Department develops and implements planning projects, including short-range action plans that identify, prioritize, and schedule modifications to keep the channels safe and capable of handling the largest ships.  It develops long-range plans that compare current channel capabilities to future maritime shipping needs and designs major modifications such as deepening and widening of a channel system to meet those shipping needs.  Moreover, Harbor Development develops 20-year plans that estimate dredging needs and dredged material placement requirements and schedules construction and operation of placement options to meet the projected dredging needs, including private sector placement needs for Baltimore Harbor.

Harbor Development also creates action plans and coordinates activities of federal and state agencies, pilots, and others to implement evaluations and changes in the navigation systems serving the Port of Baltimore.  Aspects of navigation systems include range lights, buoys, digital global positioning system (DGPS), water level predicting systems, and the Physical Oceanographic Real Time System (PORTS), which enable pilots to use maximum possible ship drafts for cargo.

Safe Passage

For more information regarding dredging/placement issues, click on the Safe Passage web site link (above) or contact MPA's Harbor Development Office by calling 410-385-4419 or send email.

The hardest part of planning your vacation may be picking a destination.

Visit our Cruise Maryland site for more information.