Taking a proactive, long-range view of the Port’s future business needs, the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) earlier this month engaged the worldwide engineering firm of Moffatt & Nichol to perform a strategic assessment of all PRPA marine terminals, warehouses, and other waterfront facilities. The aim of this comprehensive assessment will be to provide the PRPA Board and senior managers with the information they need to chart the future path of the port agency for the foreseeable future.

“This assessment will give us the informational tools required to successfully implement the cargo initiatives we want to accomplish, as well as help us to develop new initiatives,” said PRPA Executive Director James T. McDermott, Jr. “Moffatt & Nichol will take a long, hard look at our facilities, and at the marketplace, and make independent, expert recommendations for the Board to consider.”

As further described in a recent statement issued by Moffatt & Nichol, “The objective of this study is to perform a condition inspection of the facilities owned by the PRPA to determine whether these facilities need to be rehabilitated, reconstructed, or replaced over the next 10 years. The study will establish a program of phased capital improvements geared to meet both system preservation and market driven needs.”

The study will include market assessments, an analysis of current capacity, and a plan to address the disparity between current capacity and forecasted growth. Financial assessments, the economic benefits of various paths, and the pros/cons of existing facilities vs. proposed development projects will also be addressed.

The strategic assessment, which will be conducted by personnel in Moffatt & Nichol’s New York and Baltimore offices, will begin immediately and is expected to be completed by September of this year. PRPA will issue further information on this major study as appropriate.