b'2American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comPhilaPort has itsDELAWARE sights set on growth RIVER Up and down Philadelphias Delaware River termi- PORTS nal sites there is redevelopment, upgrades and even2024a new berth soon to be builtthe first in fifty years. All reasons for the regions shippers and shipping community to be optimistic about the future.By George Lauriat, AJOTThePortofPhiladel- ingprojectandportinvest-phianow operating underment has opened the door for themonikerPhilaPortisbig ship callsline haul locatedonthePennsylvaniacontainershipsforthe sideoftheDelawareRiver,Port of Philadelphia with the about90milesupstreamresults now being measured in from the sea. It is a locationrising TEUs. In 2022 the port thatcaneitherbeahandi- posted a record throughput of caporadvantage.Afterall,762,632 TEUs. And while the for an ocean going ship, 90TEUs were slightly off to just miles is a long push to findover 743,000 TEUs in 2023, apier.Alternatively,rightthereisoptimismthrough-outside the terminal gates isout the Port communitythat alocationinthemiddleof(SIGHTScontinued on oneofthedensestextendedpage 4) ZIM containers unloading at PAMTmetropolitanareasinallof NorthAmerica.Itsaplace where the freight is close to theDCs(distributioncen-ters)thatservetheregion andultimatelyputproduct inthehandsofconsumers. It all comes down to making certain port proximity to con-sumerstrumptransit. Thats both the challenge and moti-vationbehindPhilaPorts ongoing efforts$550 mil-lionworthtomakethe port efficient and competitive with other East Coast ports. OnDecember15th,2023, theCMA-CGMs14,400 TEU containership,J.Madison, docked at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminalthe larg-est vessel to ever call in Phil-adelphia.Notthatlongago, itwouldhavebeenallbut impossible for a boxship the size of the J. Madison to safely make its way up the Delaware RivertothePackerAvenue MarineTerminal.Butwith thecompletionoftheDela-wareRiverdredgingproject in 2022, as theJ. Madisons voyageattests,thebigships are calling (and at this writing a 16,000 TEU ship is sched-uled to call on March 6th) and there are lots of developments a foot in PhilaPort.O pening theD OOrBeforegoingforwardto thearrayofprojectsunder-wayinPhilaPort,itisprob-ably worth taking a step back and considering the impact of the dredging project. The 102 mileDelawareRiverMain ChannelDeepeningproject deepened the federal channel to 40-45 feet, which with an additional6-feetthatcomes with the tides. This gives the port a working depth of up to 51-feet,againdependingon the tidal bubble. However, one problem with playing the tides isthatthetidalbubbledis-sipates as it travels upstream, and the Port of Philadelphia is 90 miles from the sea mitigat-ing the tidal advantage.Nonetheless,thedredg-'