By Karen E. Thuermer, AJOTThe Delaware River ports of Philadelphia and Wilmington are positioning themselves for business as ports up and down the Eastern seaboard face continued heated competition for business. PORT OF PHILADELPHIA Big changes are underway, particularly for the Philadelphia regional maritime industry thanks to a program finally approved last year that will involve $300 million in improvements. The centerpiece of this program, which will be funded by bond financing, involves the dredging of the Delaware River’s channel from 40 to 45 feet. Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell announced the program nearly one year ago after conflicts with New Jersey related to the Delaware River Channel Deepening Project were resolved. Governor Rendell played a major role in resolving the conflict and facilitating the Delaware River Channel Deepening Project.
“I believe Governor Rendell sees the Port of Philadelphia as his legacy,” says Joe Menta, a Port of Philadelphia spokesman. “He wants to see the dredging move forward.” The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) is the project’s local sponsor. Other improvements expected from the $300 million in investment will include Pier 82 upgrades to attract a 52-ship-per-year account to the facility; the extension of the crane rail for the container cranes and building of a 100,000 square-foot warehouse for the Chilean fruit business at Tioga Marine Terminal; the development of a 200,000 square-foot warehouse for paper products at the Pier 74 Annex Warehouse; the construction of two gantry cranes, crane rail extension, crane electrification and expansion of a refrigerated warehouse at Astro Holdings/Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, the demolition and construction of a new warehouse on Pier 80 for Penn City/Brown; construction of a 100,000 square-foot, on-site warehouse for additional storage of cocoa beans for Dependable Distribution; support of the purchase of Schuylkill Pier 3, located at Girard Point, and the building of a facility for scrap metal and other potential bulk cargo at Camden Iron & Metal; and support of the purchase of land to relocate an existing tenant from Pier 3 so to enhance a marketable bulk terminal facility at Emerson Landfill/Victory Gardens.
“We are getting two mobile harbor cranes from the Port of Chester,” states Menta. “One is going to Pier 82 as part of a deal with Turbana Corporation, which helped attract their business.” Coral Gables, FL-based Turbana Banana will begin importing and warehousing its bananas through the Pennsylvania port this spring rather than off-loading the fruit at the Port of Bridgeport in Connecticut. (See related story.) The other mobile harbor crane is moving to Tioga Marine Terminal to bolster new business coming from Rickmers Linie business. Earlier this year, PRPA announced that Rickmers Linie (America), Inc., a German-based carrier specializing in the transport of break bulk and projects cargos, now makes regular calls at Tioga Marine Terminal. PRPA officials expect upwards of 40 vessel calls in 2008. Currently, the carrier calls Tioga Terminal every two weeks. “The Rickmers service at Tioga is part of the carrier’s larger `Pearl String‘ round-the-world service, including stops in Europe, Asia, India, and the United States,” says PRPA Director of Marketing Sean Mahoney. “Philadelphia is the last U.S. stop on this service before the vessels head overseas, so the vessels have tended to take on substantial amounts of cargo destined for international markets. And as proud as we are of all our port’s imported cargoes, in today’s trade climate export cargo is always gratifying to see.”
A recent surge