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Port of Cleveland wins prize for environmental enhancement

September 30, 2013

Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority was presented with the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) 2013 Environmental Improvement Award during the association’s annual convention, in Orlando, Florida, last month. The port received the award for its restoration project in the Cleveland Harbor. The Cuyahoga River is cleaner and more beautiful after the first full season of operation by the sister work barges, Flotsam and Jetsam, commissioned and built to unique specifications with a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They were designed and put into service to restore and protect the environmental quality of the Cleveland waterways. Flotsam carries a mini-excavator with a custom shovel to scoop out debris that is then loaded into special trash containers on Jetsam for disposal. The vessels also carry water pumps and floating booms to push debris or a chemical spill into a concentrated area for roundup. One barge is also fitted with a hydraulic crane and grapple to hook onto debris. Only a few weeks after their commissioning, the work barges demonstrated their value by removing approximately 24 tons of floating debris generated by Superstorm Sandy.