The acquisition of significant acreage and facilities at the former Philadelphia Navy Base, which can be used immediately for various port projects as well as become a future component of the Port’s ambitious Southport project, the first major expansion of the Port of Philadelphia in more than 50 years.
The start of a comprehensive capital program to make significant improvements to virtually all Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) facilities along the Delaware River, based on the recommendations of a 2009 Strategic Facilities Assessment, a report commissioned by PRPA to assist the agency in charting its future;
The release of $15 million in state funds by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett last month to permit continued work on the Delaware River Main Channel-Deepening Project, currently in the process of deepening the Delaware River’s main navigation channel from 40 to 45 feet, permitting larger, more modern vessels to reach the Port.
But it was recent cargo figures that have provided the most immediate good news for the region. With 1,424,710 metric tons of containers handled this year through August compared to 1,302,386 metrics tons handled during the same period in 2010, container tonnage was up over 9 percent. Counted as individual containers, the 205,221 containers handled year-to-date in 2011 was a sizable 15 percent gain over the 178,250 containers handled during the same time in 2010.
Breakbulk cargoes, which include palletized cargoes and other products not shipped in bulk or containers, also showed a healthy gain year-to-date in 2011 compared to the same period last year. Comprising cargoes such as steel, fruit, forest products, cocoa beans, and project cargo, breakbulk cargoes were up over 7 percent, with 753,346 metric tons of breakbulk cargoes handled at the Port in 2011 year-to-date compared with the 701,936 metric tons handled during the same period last year.
Particular highlights among breakbulk cargoes included cocoa beans (with 91,410 metric tons handled, up 15 percent), forest products (with 297,313 metric tons handled, up 19 percent), and project cargoes (with 32,565 metric tons handled, up 63 percent).
Virtually absent from Philadelphia’s working waterfront for many years, automobiles returned to the Port in spectacular fashion in late 2010 with the arrival of Hyundai and Kia, and their logistics partner Glovis. Now regularly offloading at PRPA’s Packer Avenue Marine Terminal (PAMT) thousands at a time via modern, sophisticated auto-carrying vessels, Hyundai and Kia automobiles are now familiar sights at both PAMT and the Pier 98 Auto Processing Facility located across the street from the sprawling South Philadelphia terminal.
So far, 85,785 automobiles have moved through the Port this year compared to virtually none moving through the Port during the same period last year. PRPA, with the assistance of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, made substantial improvements to both PAMT and Pier 98 Annex to prepare for and properly accommodate this substantial new labor-intensive cargo by Hyundai and Kia.
These improvements for the Port’s auto cargoes complemented, in fact, another major initiative at the Port in recent months: the implementation of a major capital program to upgrade and improve PRPA’s maritime facilities, both to enhance their safety and to improve their cargo-handling efficiency.
“In response to PRPA’s requests to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for continued investment in its seaport asset in Philadelphia, the Commonwealth directed PRPA to establish a capital budget process to guide the state’s future investment,” said PRPA Executive Dire
