Port of Philadelphia shows healthy gains for first half of 2015

PHILADELPHIA -  With 3,104,140 metric tons of cargo handled at the facilities of the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority during the first six months of 2015 compared to the 2,853,362 tons handled during the first six months of 2014, total cargo tonnage at the Port of Philadelphia experienced a healthy  8.79 percent increase over the two periods. In particular, breakbulk cargoes were up 28.44 percent, with 845,092 tons handled January-June 2015 compared to the 657,977 tons handled January-June 2014.  Other highlights include automobile cargoes (primarily Hyundai and Kia vehicles from South Korea), which were up 8.85 percent when counted as individual units (79,160 automobiles moved during January-June 2015) and 15.69 percent when counted as tonnage (116,812 tons moved). Though down about 2 percent when counted as TEU’s (a still healthy 214,267 TEU’s handled), containerized cargoes were up 4 percent when counted as metric tonnage:  All told, 1,470,821 metric tons of containerized cargoes were handled during the first half of 2015 compared to the 1,414,220 tons of containerized cargoes handled during the same period of 2014.

Contributing to the 28.44 percent in overall breakbulk cargoes were several individual breakbulk cargoes that showed big gains during the first half of this year.  Cocoa beans, with 81,485 tons handled, were up 12.01 percent. Fruit, with 134,921 tons handled, was up 13.51 percent. Steel, with 248,148 tons handled, was up 27.57 percent.  Forest products, with 369,951 tons handled,  were up 54.03 percent.  Liquid bulk, with 671,415 tons handled during the first half of this year, was roughly equal to the same period last year.  “2014 was the fifth consecutive year of double-digit cargo growth at the Port of Philadelphia, and our initial numbers for 2015 point to more good news like that by the end of this year,” said PRPA Executive Director James T. McDermott, Jr.  “With our 45-foot channel deepening project nearing completion and our Southport marine terminal project moving forward, these are exciting times for the Port, and the fact that our cargo numbers have been going up even before these projects are completed is particularly gratifying.  PRPA, our terminal operators, and the administration of PA Governor Tom Wolf are working together in a terrific manner to keep this port moving in the right direction.”  The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) is an independent agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania charged with the management, maintenance, marketing, and promotion of publicly-owned port facilities along the Delaware River in Philadelphia, as well as strategic planning throughout the port district.  PRPA works with its terminal operators to modernize, expand, and improve its facilities, and to market those facilities to prospective port users.  Port cargoes and the activities they generate are responsible for thousands of direct and indirect jobs in the Philadelphia area and throughout Pennsylvania.