Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel
Encyclopedia
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
from the Port of Sacramento
Port of Sacramento
The Port of Sacramento is an inland port located northeast of San Francisco, and is centered in one of the richest agricultural regions in the world. Cargo ships access the Port of Sacramento through San Francisco Bay and passage up the Sacramento River and the Sacramento deep water channel...
in Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
to the Sacramento River
Sacramento River
The Sacramento River is an important watercourse of Northern and Central California in the United States. The largest river in California, it rises on the eastern slopes of the Klamath Mountains, and after a journey south of over , empties into Suisun Bay, an arm of the San Francisco Bay, and...
, which flows into San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
. It was completed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
in 1963. The channel is about 30 feet (9 m) deep, 200 feet (61 m) wide and 43 miles (69 km) long.
The Port of Sacramento is a significant port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
on the West Coast of the United States
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
, but receives far less traffic than larger ports. It handles primarily agricultural products and other bulk goods rather than containers
Containerization
Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...
, which dominate the shipping market.
A plan to dredge the channel to 35 feet (10 m) became stalled in 1990 because the Port of Sacramento was unable to finance its share of the cost. However, there is still interest in the project.