The program, ranking among the largest investments by a state on the East Coast, will boost three of the busiest sectors of the Port of Philadelphia, including the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, the Port's automobile-handling operation and the Tioga Marine Terminal.
The improvements will result in doubling container capacity at the Port, provide increased breakbulk (non-containerized) cargo capacity and bring a substantial increase in automobile-handling capacity.
A total direct job increase of 70 percent is projected from the current level of 3,124 to a projected 5,378 direct jobs. Total employment at the Port will also increase, from 10,341 to 17,020, and state and local tax revenues generated will increase from the current $69.6m to $108.4m annually.
About $200m of the capital investment program will be invested in the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, the Port of Philadelphia’s largest maritime facility. Improvements will include four new electric post-Panamax container cranes, the relocation of warehouses to facilitate container growth and the construction of new ones and a deeper 45-foot depth at the terminal’s marginal berths to match the new 45-foot depth of the Delaware River’s main channel. Electrification throughout the terminal will also be modernized to support electrification of existing diesel cranes and cold ironing capabilities at the terminal (the ability to power without the need for the vessels to burn fuel while docked).
