Steamship Authority Freight Service New Bedford

Steamship Authority Freight Service

New Bedford to Martha's Vineyard -Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center has spent over 100 million dollars building the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal. State and local politicians are questioning the management of the terminal, finances and who is going to operate the port.

The ocean wind turbine port in New Bedford is looking more like the gang that couldn't shoot straight. This past June it was discovered after years of planning with EPA approvals, contracts issued, public hearings and over one hundred million dollars later the project is a financial fiasco.

Ships can only fit into the harbor at high tide.The channel is not wide or deep enough after two years of dredging & blasting it has to be done again only this time almost one million yards of toxic material needs to be removed and the EPA may consider more Cad Cells outside the harbor. A Cad Cell is a method of burying toxic material.

Local residents around the toxic contamination are being made aware today about the additional sites.

Quonset Point, Rhode Island is the federally permitted construction site for Cape Wind through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. In the permit it allows three ( 3) maintenance boats in Falmouth & New Bedford only.

Cape Wind signed a lease with Quonset Point. New Bedford has never had a federal permit to construct ocean wind turbines.

Now comes the antiquated freight port at Woods Hole, Falmouth Massachusetts. The Woods Hole freight terminal is old and has major flood plain regulations going against it in any kind of major reconstruction.The residents of Woods Hole are tired of hearing trucks 24/7 pulling in and out of the current terminal.

The Falmouth community including  Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute do they feel the terminal at Woods Hole should be rebuilt ? Steamship Authority,SAA board members have resigned from the board over arguments in the rebuilding process. The cost of rebuilding the Woods Hole Terminal over the next few years is the same as the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal.

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center in charge of building the 100 million dollar ocean wind port in New Bedford always said the port would be used for multiple purposes.

Folks, New Bedford never had a federal permit to build ocean wind turbines.

The local,state and federal politicians are in front of a 100 million dollars financial fiasco in New Bedford with a port that is too shallow and not wide enough.

Local,state, federal and semi quasi state agency representatives have to explain what is looking like another Big Dig.

The only solution is to move the Falmouth freight service to New Bedford.

The state can't build a new port in Falmouth and leave a 100 million plus terminal empty in New Bedford.

This may have been the plan from day one.

Massachusetts business as usual out the back door of Beacon Hill.