Lieutenant General William H. Graham, 56th Chief of Engineers and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, signed the Gulfport Harbor Navigation Study Chief's Report on June 23, 2026, which represents the completion of the study and makes it eligible for congressional authorization.

The three-year study, which began in April 2023 with the signing of the Feasibility Cost Sharing Agreement between USACE Mobile District and the Mississippi State Port Authority at Gulfport, Mississippi, the non-federal sponsor, was designed to improve navigation into and out of the Port at Gulfport Harbor for deep draft vessels for current and future needs. The Recommended Plan, as presented in the Chief’s Report, includes the following features:

a. Deepen the Outer Harbor (9+20 to 50+75) to an authorized depth of -46 feet Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW). 

b. Deepen the Sound and Bar Channels to -46 and -48 feet MLLW, respectively.

c. Widen the Sound and Bar Channels by 50 feet to 350 feet and 100 feet to 500 feet, respectively.

d. Bend 1 is located between Stations 445+40 to 470+00.  From Station 415+35 to Station 445+40 (Bend’s North PI), widen the Sound Channel from 350 feet to 400 feet, adding 50 feet to the east side of the bend.  From Station 470+00 (Bend’s South PI) to Station 500+60, reduce the Sound channel from 400 feet to 350 feet.

e. Extend the Bar Channel from 1,000 feet to 2,018 feet (stations 591+82 to 612+00).

f. Add a sedimentation basin between Stations 625+00 to 665+00 that extends 200 feet along the east side of the channel at the authorized depth (-48 feet MLLW) and slopes upward to the seafloor at 1V:7H

g. Modify the existing second bend (Bend 3) in the Bar Channel to decrease the deflection angle (new stations will be 1022+85 to 1051+81) and add an additional bend at Stations 1167+00 to 1226+64.  Both bends deflection angles are approximately 25 to 30 degrees.

Gulfport Harbor, Mississippi is located south of the City of Gulfport in Harrison County, Mississippi, within the city limits. The City of Gulfport is approximately 7 miles south of Interstate 10, approximately 80 miles west of Mobile, Alabama, and 80 miles east of New Orleans, Louisiana. 

The Mississippi State Port Authority at Gulfport is the Non-Federal Sponsor.  The Port of Gulfport encompasses approximately 300 acres and is located on the north shore of the Mississippi Sound within 5 miles of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and 10 miles from the Gulf of America and Gulf Island National Seashore.

The Port at Gulfport consists of an Anchorage Basin, a Sound Channel (North and South) and a Bar Channel.  Gulfport Harbor’s Sound Channel is approximately 21 mi in length, 300 feet (ft) in width, and -36 feet mean lower low water (MLLW) in depth. The Bar Channel, 10 miles in length from Ship Island south to the Safety Fairway, is 400 feet wide with a depth of -38 feet MLLW. The Port’s Inner Harbor is maintained to a depth of -32 feet MLLW, while the Outer Harbor and Gulfport Anchorage Basin, at approximately 1,320 feet in width, are maintained to a depth of -36 feet MLLW.

Gulfport Harbor supports major imports and exports of fruit, paper products, textiles, and minerals for manufacturing processes. Gulfport Harbor also supports approximately 2 million tons of commerce annually.