| Like many modern working ports, New
Bedford/Fairhaven Harbor balances maritime interests and local economic needs
with environmental concerns. Several economic and environmental designations,
such as the Foreign Trade Zone and No Discharge Area, currently apply to the
port. Long-term projects, such as the Superfund cleanup and restoration of
federal navigation channels, are taking place in the port. These projects and
designations will improve the harbor’s environmental health and enhance
its economic growth. |
| |
| Designated Port Area
(DPA) |
| The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone
Management has classified portions of the waterfront in New Bedford and
Fairhaven as a Designated Port Area (DPA) under a program to preserve and
promote maritime industry. The DPA classification encourages the creation or
expansion of water-dependent industrial facilities, such as fish processing
plants, in developed harbor areas. DPAs are subject to specific provisions,
including land use restrictions, under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 91,
which is administered by the state’s Department of Environmental
Protection. DPAs also are officially identified as priority areas for federal
and state funding, including funds available under the Seaport Bond.
(Original source: MA Coastal Zone Management Web site:
www.mass.gov/czm) |
| |
| New Bedford Foreign Trade Zone
|
| The Port of New Bedford, New Bedford Regional
Airport, and adjacent areas form the New Bedford Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ),
which provides duty-free manufacturing opportunities for importers and
exporters. The City of New Bedford is grantee or holder of Foreign Trade Zone
(FTZ) #28. An FTZ is a designated area that, for Customs purposes, is
considered outside the U.S. Nearly any imported merchandise can be brought into
the FTZ for almost any kind of manipulation duty-free, unless it enters the
U.S. market. Goods in the FTZ can be assembled, manufactured or processed and
final products re-exported without paying Customs duties. If the final products
enter the U.S., the duty rate may be lower than the duty applicable to the
product itself or its parts. |
| |
| New Bedford offers international distribution
services that support the FTZ. The city is accessible by sea, air, and rail
services, as well as interstate highway systems. The port has shipping
agencies, freight forwarding and stevedore services, and warehouse and
truck-brokering facilities. The New Bedford Regional Airport is located within
the FTZ. New Bedford is serviced by the CSX interstate railway. The city is
adjacent to the interstate highway system and is within overnight truck
delivery distance of most major cities in the Northeast industrial corridor.
Long-haul trucking service to Canada and U.S. inland states also is available. |
| |
| New Bedford Foreign Trade Zone #28 is a direct
port of entry to European and Latin American markets. FTZ #28 is able to
sponsor expanded general purpose sites within a 60-mile radius of the city. In
addition, the FTZ has the potential to sponsor qualified subzones anywhere in
Massachusetts. The FTZ Corporation recently created a subzone near the
port’s South Terminal area outside the Hurricane Barrier. For more
information, contact the Foreign Trade Zone Corporation at (508) 979-1578. |
| |
No Discharge Area
 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has designated
Buzzards Bay, including New Bedford Harbor, as a No Discharge Area (NDA). In
NDAs, the discharge of all boat sewage, even if it is treated, is prohibited.
The Coast Guard enforces restrictions in NDAs. To help boaters comply with
federal law, pumpout facilities have been established throughout the area.
Pumpouts are wet vacuums that draw sewage out of boat holding tanks for proper
disposal. Many of these facilities have been funded by federal grants and are
available at little or no cost to boaters. For more information on pumpout
locations, contact the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management at (617)
626-1212 or www.mass.gov/czm or the Division of Marine Fisheries at (508)
563-1779 x119. (Original source: MA Coastal Zone Management Web site: www.mass.gov/czm) |
| |
| New Bedford Federal
Navigation Project |
| The restoration of federally authorized channel
depths in New Bedford/Fairhaven Harbor is one of the federal navigation - or
dredging - projects maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/New England
District. The main deep-draft channel to New Bedford has an authorized depth of
30 feet, while shallow draft channels for the fishing fleet at Fairhaven have
depths of 15 and 10 feet. The shallower channels on the Fairhaven side of the
harbor require maintenance dredging of about 70,000 cubic yards of shoal
material. The deeper channels serving the New Bedford waterfront would require
dredging of about 1.3 million cubic yards to restore the authorized project
dimensions. |
| |
| The Army Corps assisted the Massachusetts Office
of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) in preparation of a Dredged Material
Management Plan to identify a disposal site for maintenance dredging of
navigation channels in New Bedford and Fairhaven. The state study examined the
dredging needs of the federal navigation project for New Bedford and numerous
state, municipal, and private facility dredging needs for a 20-year period.
Environmental permitting on the project has been completed. The New Bedford
Harbor Development Commission is working with the Army Corps and Environmental
Protection Agency to coordinate implementation of the 20-year maintenance
dredging and the Superfund cleanup. For more information, contact the Army
Corps at (978) 318-8237. (Original source: Army Corps Web site:
www.nae.usace.army.mil) |
| |
| New Bedford Superfund
Site Cleanup |
| The 18,000-acre New Bedford Harbor Superfund site
extends from the northern reaches of the Acushnet River estuary south through
the commercial harbor of New Bedford and into Buzzards Bay. The site contains
sediments that are contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and heavy
metals. The city’s main working port, which houses the fishing fleet and
cruise ship terminal, is not affected by the cleanup that is taking place
primarily in the far north region of the harbor. |
| |
| EPA issued a Record of Decision for the upper and
lower harbor in 1998. The cleanup includes dredging approximately 450,000 cubic
yards of PCB-contaminated sediment from the harbor. The dredged sediment will
be contained in shoreline confined disposal facilities (CDFs) or transported
offsite to a licensed landfill. Seawater will be removed from the sediments,
treated, and discharged back into the harbor. Once completed, the CDFs will be
available for reuse as shoreline open space and parks. |
| |
| Steps taken to date, including posting warning
signs, fencing contaminated shoreline areas and dredging the most highly
contaminated hot spot sediments, have reduced threats posed by the site.
Progress towards the remaining cleanup continues. EPA and the City of New
Bedford have agreed on an innovative approach to increase the environmental
benefit of the remedy in the north terminal section of the harbor. Once the
cleanup is complete, the City will be able to reuse EPA's six-acre shoreline
sediment processing facility as part of its working waterfront and intermodal,
multi-user transportation facility. Construction and minor dredging to support
the main cleanup began in 2002. Final dredging of approximately 200 acres of
sediment is scheduled to start in 2003. For more information, contact the EPA
at (617) 918-1329. (Original source: EPA Web site:
www.epa.gov) |
