SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — U.S. seaports in the Southeast likely need up to $5 billion to deepen their shipping channels so they can trade with supersized cargo ships expected to arrive soon through an expanded Panama Canal, a federal agency said Thursday in a report to Congress.

Lawmakers asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to examine improvement needs among the nation’s ports as local governments scramble for federal funds to deepen their harbors to make room for a growing fleet of giant commercial ships. The East Coast only has three ports — New York, Baltimore and Norfolk, Va. — with waterways deep enough to accept the fully loaded ships regardless of tides. The Southeast, forecast for the nation’s heaviest growth in population and trade, remains too shallow from Virginia to south Florida and across the Gulf to Texas.