Officials from the Army Corps of Engineers formally announced Monday that dredging is underway at the Port of Savannah.

Dredging is the first physical construction step towards deepening the Savannah River channel from 42 feet up to 48 feet. This would allow larger vessels to regularly navigate the harbor.

Colonel Marvin Griffin is the District Engineer with the Corps.

“They can only can come at high tide and go at high tide," he said when asked about the larger vessels that can already be seen at the port. "With the expansion of the harbor deepening its going to allow those ships to come more frequently throughout the day and also not leave several containers or one hundred or two containers short of a full load.”

He said this will increase efficiency at the port and when completed, should bring in about $174 million in benefits to the US.

Politicians and community leaders gathered Monday near Fort Stewart to applaud the official beginning. The project will extend about 18 miles towards Georgia Port Authority's Garden City terminal.

Construction started at the channel entrance near the end of last week but Griffin said a dissolved oxygen injection system must be built before any inland dredging takes place.

"To help out with the fisheries and help out with the endangered species and the river itself because fish need dissolved oxygen and the deeper it goes the more of a challenge it is."

Not all funds are in place for the nearly $706 million project. But the Port Authority has contributed over $190 million dollars towards its completion.

Video of behind the scenes crane operations at the port below.

Tags: GPA, Georgia Port Authority, Savannah Harbor Expansion Project