Looking to further its “top banana” status, the Delaware State Port Corp.’s Port of Wilmington is advancing multiple enhancements to current facilities near the mouth of the Christina River while examining long-term prospects for new terminal development on the Delaware River. North America’s longtime leader in imports of bananas and other fresh fruits and juice concentrates, the Port of Wilmington is doubling its contingent of ship-to-shore gantry cranes and renovating antiquated berths at its Christina River berths, just west of its confluence with the Delaware River. At the same time, the Delaware State Port Corp. has hired AECOM to develop a strategic master plan that includes examination of potential future port development along the Delaware River, with the primary site presently under consideration being just south of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, the twin spans that carries Interstate 295 over the river. John Haroldson, manager of international trade at DSPC, said the improvements at the Christina River berths address immediate needs, while building of a new terminal “could be 20 years down the road.” DSPC has signed a $24 million contract to have two new rail-mounted gantries in operation by the end of 2016, to join the two cranes already on rails that are to be extended to serve Christina River berths 1 through 5. The port’s 100-ton-capacity Gottwald mobile harbor crane would then be able to be moved to Berth 7, Haroldson said. In addition, a $10 million grant via the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery competitive grant program is being used to kick-start rebuilding of berths 5 and 6, which date back to the founding of the Port of Wilmington back in 1923. Haroldson noted that the depth at the Christina River berths is “about maxed out” at 38 feet, even with twice-a-year dredging. Thus, although fruit operations benefit from the industry-leading 800,000 square feet of on-dock temperature-controlled warehouse space at the Christina River terminal plus additional nearby nonunion chilled facilities, the forward-thinking approach calls for future development along the Delaware River, where a project for channel deepening to 45 feet is nearing completion. “Any expansion is going to be on the Delaware River,” Haroldson said. Most of the current talk centers around a 176-acre site in Riveredge Industrial Park, immediately south of the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Also under consideration for future DSPC development, in addition to the Riveredge tract, according to Haroldson, is a second potential location, this one being the site of a former steel mill shuttered in late 2013 in Claymont, Del., a dozen miles up the Delaware River toward Philadelphia from Riveredge, just south of the Pennsylvania line. At the moment, though, the Port of Wilmington is busy handling bananas and other fruit. The port’s first breakbulk shipment of Chilean winter fruit arrived in mid-December, with more than 600,000 boxes of cherries, blueberries, apricots, peaches, nectarines and table grapes. Haroldson said he sees the current season for Chilean fruit as “solid” and that he anticipates a better season than a year ago for imports of clementines from Morocco. By spring, a steady flow of apples and pears should be moving across Wilmington docks from Argentina, which also ships apple and pear juice concentrates to the port. “We’re the top banana,” Haroldson enthused. “We’re the place to be in terms of perishables.” Roll-on/roll-off, project and bulk cargos also are faring well at the Port of Wilmington, according to Haroldson. Fiat Chrysler vehicle exports to the Middle East joined the mix at the port’s Delaware River ro/ro berth in 2015, while recent projects have included Orbital ATK’s import from the Ukraine of rocket boosters transported by specialized 195-foot-long trailers to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Virginia’s Wallops Island. Road and solar salts are leading the port’s dry bulk growth, and liquid bulk activity is being fueled by gasoline brought in by Magellan Midstream Partners LP for distribution to Wawa Inc. stores in three states. All told, in the port’s fiscal year ended June 30, Wilmington docks handled 6.6 million tons of cargo, up 20 percent over the preceding 12-month period.