Delay questioned in deepening Gulfport channel

Mississippi leaders are questioning whether the Port of Gulfport is doing enough to capitalize on $570 million in federal money being spent there in the aftermath of 2005's Hurricane Katrina.

Port officials told a community group Tuesday that the port is not close to deepening its 36-foot ship channel, one of the shallowest among major Gulf of Mexico harbors.

In Katrina's aftermath, then-Gov. Haley Barbour often pitched a "port of the future" that could include a 50-foot-deep shipping channel to lure mammoth ships sailing through an expanded Panama Canal. But money to improve the port does not include dredging a deeper channel.


CBS News
7/27/12