First phase of Tinian Harbor rehabilitation now complete

The first phase of the Tinian Harbor Repair project is now complete. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

The first phase of the Tinian Harbor Repair project was completed Tuesday, one of the many improvements on the island of Tinian that was part of the bargain when the Commonwealth Ports Authority agreed in 2019 to lease a portion of its Tinian property to the U.S. Department of Defense for a planned “divert airfield.”

According to CPA board chair Kimberlyn King-Hinds, phase 1 of the Tinian Harbor Repair project was completed Tuesday and the project cost amounted to $719,044 just for the materials and supplies.

King-Hinds said the project, which was done by the U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4, included the installation of vertical marine fenders and 11 bollards. A concrete slab for offloading and loading was also built and patch-up work was done on the existing berm, which had some cracks.

This top side improvement was just one of many phases, King-Hinds said, and CPA has every intent to keep pushing for the complete funding repairs to include the sea wall.

“The Tinian Seaport is a critical economic lifeline for the community and an essential component to many DOD training activities. This type of project is the benefit of what was bargained for when we leased two-thirds of Tinian many years ago,” King-Hinds said.

When CPA entered into negotiations with DOD in 2018-2019 to build an alternative landing field—called a divert airfield—for the U.S. military within the Tinian International Airport, CPA asked DOD to consider what’s called “outside the fence” projects—essentially projects outside the airport but are also CPA properties, such as the Tinian Seaport. “In our discussions, we identified improvements at the seaport as being a priority,” said King-Hinds. “We thank the U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 their hard work and service. We also want to recognize our DOD partners for recognizing the critical need for these repairs.”

The second phase, King-Hinds said, is the repair of the roll on-roll off ramp of the Tinian Seaport but CPA has no estimated completion time yet for that phase.

“What we’ve been pushing for is to have DOD repair the entire dock and the seawalls. We’ve been getting some traction on that idea and our argument is that if the ‘breakwater’—as we call it—doesn’t get repaired, any underwater improvements to the fingers at the actual dock will continually be compromised and will result in waste,” she said.

Of the $21.9 million that CPA received from the DOD for the lease of certain airport and seaport properties on Tinian for the U.S. Air Force’s divert airfield, $1.9 million will be used toward the improvement of the island’s seaport.