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TBHA Home > What We Do > Boston Harbor's Working Port |  |
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TBHA's Working Port Advocacy and Education The Boston Harbor Association is committed to preserving and promoting Boston Harbor as a Working Port. In the past decade, as Boston's waterfront has become more inviting to the general public, efforts have intensified to utilize land once dedicated solely to maritime uses for non-water dependent uses. Since 2003, The Boston Harbor Association has made sustainability in the Working Port and Designated Port Areas (DPAs) in Boston a top priority. TBHA’s comment letters on Chelsea Creek Designated Port Area, the Boston Cargo Terminal and the Sterling Marine Terminal and CAD cell helped to ensure critical support for maritime industrial uses along the waterfront. TBHA is a strong supporter of the Boston Harbor Maintenance Dredging Project to facilitate access for larger vessels to port facilities.
In 2003, The Boston Harbor Association released a comprehensive DPA study entitled, “Inside the Working Port: A Study of Boston’s Designated Port Areas.” This report provides a framework for discussions about current and future waterfront development. It also indicates the importance of marine industry to the Greater Boston region and highlights the necessity of further incentives to promotion of the Working Port. The Boston Harbor Association’s publications are available by contacting us at 617-482-1722 or by email at mail@tbha.org. TBHA’s Chelsea Creek and Mystic River Educational Cruises
The Boston Harbor Association helps bring public attention to Chelsea Creek and lower Mystic River, as key components of Boston’s maritime and industrial network. Through free cruises for the general public, TBHA has successfully brought together diverse stakeholders to examine the complex issues surrounding the current and future uses of this area in order to create a balanced approach to planning processes.
Thousands of people have enjoyed TBHA’s free cruises, receiving unique waterside perspectives on these two waterways, including highlights of maritime industrial uses, Chelsea Creek’s Urban Wild, and environmental justice issues. Guest speakers include representatives from maritime industry, energy, and open space and community organizations.
In addition to this public education effort, TBHA’s partnership with Eastern Salt Company, Inc., has provided free trips for young people to leave from Chelsea waterfront to travel directly to the Harbor Islands for education and recreation. Once on the water, the youths learn about activities in Boston's Port, basics of map use and navigation, water quality, and environmental stewardship. For information about upcoming cruises and similar events, please contact TBHA at mail@tbha.org or 617-482-1722, or visit our Events page. Boston Harbor's Working Port Designated Port Areas (DPA) were first created in 1978 by the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management to encourage and promote maritime industrial interests. These unique waterfront locations boast characteristics such as deep-water access, established land transportation links, and a significant public utilities infrastructure. Four of the state's eleven Designated Port Areas are found within Boston's Working Port in Chelsea, East Boston, South Boston, and along the Mystic River.
Long the focus of New England's trade and economy, Boston's Working Port generates $2.4 billion in economic impact and provides 34,000 jobs annually. Current industries in the Port of Boston include energy facilities, fish processing, automobile imports, cruise ship terminal, boat building, ship repair, and tow and tugboat operations. Many of these industries have tremendous tradition and economic importance for Boston and the surrounding region.
Did you know that in 2008…
Chelsea Creek Chelsea Creek is a critical component of Boston's Working Port. The relatively small, 2.6-miles of waterfront is the entryway for nearly 70% of the fuel oil coming through Boston Harbor. The area provides storage for 100% of the jet fuel used at Boston's Logan International Airport and is also the gateway for the road salt used by nearly 200 communities in Massachusetts and the state-owned roadways. To accommodate these maritime-dependent industrial uses, much of the Chelsea Creek waterfront is in a Designated Port Area (DPA).
Dredging in the Port of Boston
The Port of Boston provides significant economic benefits to the Commonwealth’s residents and businesses. Based on a study by the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), activities in the Port of Boston generate more than 34,000 jobs and have a $2.4 billion annual economic impact. This significant economic benefit could be jeopardized by the current severe state of shoaling, the gradual shallowing of the Port’s channels, since the economic viability of any port rests in large part on the depths of its navigation channels. If deep draft vessels cannot safely and efficiently transit the harbor to access the Port terminals, significant economic and potentially environmental impacts result. Waterborne transportation of cargo is one of the most environmentally sound transportation alternatives available.
The shipping companies that frequent the Port of Boston are using larger and larger vessels, with many of the vessels that now call at Conley Container Terminal requiring more than 40 feet of water. Massport and the U.S. Army Corps are working together to obtain permits that would increase the dredging depth to a suggested -48 feet, after completing a two-year study proving that the project is economically justifiable. The current schedule calls for dredging to be completed in 2011. For further information, please read the project summaries by clicking here or visit www.massport.com.
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The Boston Harbor Association - 374 Congress Street, Suite 307 - Boston, MA 02210 - 617-482-1722 (P) - 617-482-9750 (F) - mail@tbha.org |
Massport's Fish
Pier in South Boston, the oldest continuously working fish pier in the
country, is currently fully occupied, with twenty fish processors,
admiralty law firms, seafood brokers, and a popular seafood restaurant. Up
to fifteen fishing boats dock at the Pier daily. The Fish Auction, held at
6:30 a.m. on days when fishing boats unload their catch, often sets fish
prices for the New England area. More than 23 million pounds of fish are
processed annually at the Fish Pier, of which 8 million arrive by fishing
vessels that dock at the Pier.
The Army Corps worked with Massport on two Harbor Maintenance Dredging Projects since initial plans were drawn in 2003. The first project, which involved dredging of the Outer Harbor channels, was completed in 2005. The project removed about 1.3 million cubic yards of sediment that had accumulated in the Outer channels serving the Working Port. The Corps and Massport are currently working to complete maintenance dredging in the Inner Harbor’s main shipping channel, which consists of 1.8 million cubic yards of sediment between Castle Island and the Inner Confluence that need to be restored to its Congressionally authorized 40-foot depth. The first phase of this Inner Harbor Maintenance Dredging Project was completed in 2008. Phase II of the project is fully permitted and will be completed as soon as funding becomes available. 
