The Port of Long Beach and the US Army Corps of Engineers announced a $40 million harbor-dredging project to improve navigation for oil tankers and other ships by removing and relocating nearly 1.5 million cu yards of sediment from the sea floor. … The new depth allows ships to turn safely in the inner basin. Oil tankers must point toward the ocean when docked so that they can quickly move away from the berth in an emergency. The BP terminal is one of the busiest oil terminals on the West Coast. The dredging, scheduled to begin in March 2010, is partially financed by federal stimulus funding. The projects will support 180 jobs for the next 2 years.
