Port of Philadelphia

''PhilaPort'' (Philadelphia Regional Port Authority)

The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority, commonly known as PhilaPort, and referred to as the Port of Philadelphia, is an independent agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania charged with the management, maintenance, marketing, and promotion of port facilities along the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, as well as strategic planning throughout the port district. PhilaPort works with its terminal operators to improve its facilities and to market those facilities to prospective port users around the world. Port cargoes and the activities they generate are responsible for thousands of direct and indirect jobs in the Philadelphia area and throughout Pennsylvania.

On May 22, 2017, The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) announced that it was rebranding as PhilaPort (The Port of Philadelphia) effective immediately. The name ‘PhilaPort’ was decided on to distinguish The Port of Philadelphia from the many other regional authorities.

Terminals

The port consists of a series of marine terminals, each with specialized capabilities. | auto-caption=1 | mark-coord1 = | mark-title1 = Packer Avenue Marine Terminal | mark-coord2 = | mark-title2 = Tioga Marine Terminal | mark-coord3 = | mark-title3 = Pier 82 | mark-coord4 = | mark-title4 = Pier 84 | mark-coord5 = | mark-title5 = Philadelphia Forest Products Center – piers 78/80 | mark-coord6 = | mark-title6 = Philadelphia Forest Products Center – piers 38/40 | mark-coord7 = | mark-title7 = Philadelphia Automobile Processing Facility | shape-color1=dark blue | shape-outline1=white | mark-size1=16

• Packer Avenue Marine Terminal: This facility handles containers, steel products, frozen meat, fruit, heavy lift cargo, project cargo, and paper on 6 berths plus 1 Ro/Ro berth at a depth of MLW of 45 ft. The 160 acre facility features 90000 ft2 of dry storage and 2200000 ft3 of refrigerated storage with 2,500 reefer plugs.
• Tioga Marine Terminal: This facility handles containers, specialized forest products, over-dimensional cargo, palletized cargo, project cargo, break-bulk cargo, and steel on 6 berths at a depth of MLW of 36 to. The 116 acre facility features 734500 ft2 of dry storage, of which 90000 ft2 is refrigerated storage with 116 reefer plugs.
• Pier 82: This facility handles fruits and vegetables, break-bulk cargo, project cargo, and paper on 2 berths at a depth of MLW of 32 ft. The 13.3 acre facility features 130000 ft2 of dry, temperature-controlled storage.
• Pier 84: This facility is dedicated exclusively to cocoa beans and other cocoa products on 1 berth at a depth of MLW of 32 feet (9.8 meters). The 13.9 acre facility features 540000 ft2 of dry storage.
• Philadelphia Forest Products Center: This facility at piers 38, 40, 78, and 80 handles newsprint, coated paper, wood pulp, other forest products, other break-bulk, and semi-bulk products on 2 berths plus 2 Ro/Ro berths at a depth of MLW of 32 ft. The 44.4 acre facility features 1143000 ft2 of dry storage.
• Philadelphia Automobile Processing Facility: This facility handles automobiles, project cargo, trucks, and heavy equipment just offshore with immediate access to Packer Avenue Marine Terminal and Pier 96. The 84.2 acre facility features an auto-washing and auto service building.

Shipyard

Hog Island was once the largest shipyard in the nation. In 1917, as part of the World War I effort, the U.S. government contracted American International Shipbuilding to build ships and a shipyard at Hog Island. At the time Hog Island was the largest shipyard in the world, with 50 slipways. The first ship, named for the Lenape name for the site, was christened August 5, 1918, by Edith Bolling Wilson, wife of U.S. president Woodrow Wilson.

The Philly Shipyard is a private company operating on what was once the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

Development in the 2000s

;Delaware River main channel deepening: A project to deepen the Delaware River's 103-mile main shipping channel from 40 to 45 feet began in 2010 and was completed in 2017. The $392 million project was funded by the Federal Government and local-match sponsor PhilaPort (using Commonwealth of Pennsylvania general funds).

;Infrastructure upgrade: A $300 million port development plan was announced by the Commonwealth in November 2016, which will expand and improve cargo operations throughout the Port's busiest areas. As part of the $300 million Port Development Plan, the first two of five giant cranes capable of unloading the largest container ships arrived in March 2018 from China, where they were manufactured.

;Southport Marine Terminal An expansion of port facilities at Philadelphia Naval Yard.

;New leadership: In August 2016 PhilaPort's board of directors hired Jeff Theobald, a maritime industry professional with more than 40 years of experience in terminal operations and shipping logistics, as its new executive director and CEO, to further professionalize the port's operations.

History

The Port of Philadelphia was established more than 300 years ago during the colonial period, and was for a time the busiest port in both that period and the earliest years of the new republic, finally being eclipsed by the Port of New York. In much of the 20th Century, the Port was overseen by the city's Department of Wharves, Docks, and Ferries, which was replaced by the quasi-public Philadelphia Port Corporation in 1964.

In 1989, following the lead of other municipal ports that made overtures to their respective state governments for capital and operating support, the Port of Philadelphia moved from city to state control, with a new agency, the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority, established by the State Legislature's Act 50 of 1989 to run the Port. The Port of Philadelphia has always been a landlord port, with private companies being given leases to run the Port's facilities, with capital and marketing support provided by the Commonwealth and PRPA. Holt Logistics is the largest private company in the Port of Philadelphia with automobiles and fresh fruit driving imports. In 2024, the Gloucester Marine Terminal (operated by a Holt company, Gloucester Terminals LLC) and the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal (operated by another Holt company, Greenwich Terminals LLC), handled over 88 percent of Chilean fruit on the East Coast, up from 72 percent in 2023, according to Holt. And while overall Moroccan citrus volumes decreased in 2024, the percentage of volume handled in Gloucester and at PAMT increased in 2024, with the region responsible for 76 percent of the volume.

Philadelphia Cruise Terminal

The Philadelphia Cruise Terminal was located at 5100 South Broad Street within the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The Delaware River Port Authority began operating the terminal in 1998 in Building 3, a landmarked 1874 Navy Yard building. Following the September 11 attacks the Philadelphia terminal accommodated some of the ships that had been diverted from New York. Its peak year was 2006 when it handled 36 cruises. By 2011 the schedule had dwindled to just two cruises. The DRPA decided to close the terminal rather than invest additional operating costs or capital improvements. Its demise was attributed to a combination of the economic downturn, increasing size of cruise ships, and six hours needed to navigate the Delaware River before entering open ocean.

A new PhilaPort Cruise Terminal has broken ground north of Philadelphia International Airport on December 2, 2025 and is slated to open in April 2026 with Norwegian Cruise Lines using it as Philadelphia's exclusive homeport for a minimum of 7 years with 41 sailings a year.

References

References

1. "Bridges and Cables". Moran Shipping.
2. "Home". Philadelphia Regional Port Authority.
3. "Port of Philadelphia Technical Memorandum – Summary of Existing Conditions". Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
4. . (Winter 2017). ["Delaware River ship arrivals finish 2016 strong"](https://www.maritimedelriv.com/storage/app/media/Publications/Beacon/Issues/Beacon_Winter_2017.pdf). *Maritime Exchange*.
5. "It's a Brand New Day at PhilaPort » PRPA Rebrands". PhilaPort.
6. "People left scrambling after Pier 40 Self Storage announces closure". FOX29.
7. (October 16, 2020). "Packer Avenue Marine Terminal".
8. (October 19, 2020). "Tioga Marine Terminal".
9. (October 19, 2020). "Pier 82".
10. (October 19, 2020). "Pier 84".
11. (October 19, 2020). "Philadelphia Forest Products Center".
12. (October 19, 2020). "Philadelphia Automobile Processing Facility".
13. "The Great War's Largest Shipyard: Hog Island, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania".
14. "Main Channel Deepening". Philadelphia Regional Port Authority.
15. "Port Development Plan". Philadelphia Regional Port Authority.
16. Maykuth, Andrew. (March 24, 2018). "Giant cranes from China arrive at PhilaPort, signaling a new era".
17. Adomaitis, Greg. (November 5, 2015). "Delaware River port project to bring hundreds, or thousands, of jobs".
18. "Holt has sights set on growth and sustainability {{!}} Produce News".
19. "History of PRPA". Philadelphia Regional Port Authority.
20. Brown, Peter Hendee Brown. (2009). "America's Waterfront Revival: Port Authorities and Urban Redevelopment, Chapter 5: Philadelphia and Camden". University of Pennsylvania Press.
21. "Philadelphia Cruise Terminal". Philadelphiacruiseguide.com.
22. (5 January 2011). "Delaware River Board Closes Philadelphia Cruise Terminal".
23. aprinski. "The Port of Philadelphia Announces Groundbreaking of New PhilaPort Cruise Terminal {{!}} PhilaPort".