The draft environmental report on the future of Capitol Lake shows the Port of Olympia has an interest in bringing Panama Canal-size ships to the marine terminal.

The discovery was made by resident and former Port of Olympia commission candidate Helen Wheatley, who shared the information during public comment at Monday’s Port commission meeting.

The port’s interest in large ships, known as Panamax and Neopanamax vessels, is spelled out in an attachment included in the draft environmental impact statement for Capitol Lake, which was released at the end of June by the state Department of Enterprise Services. DES is accepting comments on the document through Aug. 29.

The EIS examines three options for the body of water that runs from Tumwater Falls on the Deschutes River to Budd Inlet’s West Bay: a managed lake, an estuary created by removal of the Fifth Avenue Dam, and a hybrid of the two. The port is mentioned often in the report because under the estuary and hybrid plans maintenance dredging would have to occur to clear a buildup of sediment.

The attachment is called the “navigation discipline report,” which was prepared for DES by Seattle-based Moffat & Nichol, an engineering and consulting firm.

Page 31 of the attachment includes the following:

“The port has indicated they would like to welcome Panamax and Neopanamax vessels — ships designed to pass through the Panama Canal — to their berths, which could require berth deepening and widening. This would also require coordination with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as any deepening and/or widening of the federal navigation channel and turning basin would require USACE authorization.”

The current port berth depth, according to the attachment, remains steady at 39 feet. It was not immediately clear how much deeper the berths would have to be to accommodate a larger ship.

The typical ship that calls on the port is 600 feet long and 100 feet wide, according to the attachment. A check of the internet shows Panamax vessels are more than 900 feet long and Neopanamax more than 1,000 feet.

After Wheatley brought the information to the commission’s attention, the Port commissioners reacted in disbelief.

Commissioner Bill McGregor said to go any deeper at the marine terminal would take years.

“We would have to petition the Army Corps of Engineers and go through a voluminous permitting process to get from where we are today to anything deeper,” he said.

Commissioner E.J. Zita thanked Wheatley for alerting the commission to the draft EIS’s attachment.

“Bringing Panamax ships to the port would be nuts,” Zita said, adding the port is not in a position to compete with larger ports, such as the Port of Vancouver in British Columbia.

“If that’s in any of our statements, we should take another look at it,” Zita said. “That’s not a good fit for the Port of Olympia.”

Commissioner Joe Downing, too, wanted more information.

“I know in the last five years those words (Panamax and Neopanamax) have never crossed our lips,” he said.

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