A draft strategic master plan for port expansion in Wilmington was presented last week.
The report prepared by AECOM lays out three different potential sites for port expansion: with total project costs ranging from $300 million to over $1 billion.
The plan offers multiple options at the state-owned Port of Wilmington but many additional resources would be needed to make them happen
One would involve work to make the Port more container friendly.
The port’s Executive Director Gene Bailey says they currently have limited container capacity, with only two weekly banana suppliers shipping in containers: DOLE and Chiquita.
"So what we have to do is look and see: take a look at the forecasting that’s been presented by AECOM, what the growth is, where the growth is coming from and then you sit down and you take a look at those suggestions for consideration and you evaluate how that best fits with the forecast for growth and then you start to make a determination on the direction you’d like to go in," Bailey said.
Other options developing operations at Riveredge Industrial Park south of the Delaware Memorial Bridge and Edge Moor, on the former Evraz Steel site in Claymont.
New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon has been advocating for the Riveredge location.
“It’s probably the most valuable because of a lot of things but one: it doesn’t have any bridges to go under. These large ships come right off the ocean and they can turn around there, and go back," Gordon said.
But Gordon also says he thinks it is possible to invest in all three locations.
Bailey says he and his team are reviewing the proposal, and will hopefully present recommendations to the Port’s board of directors in the next couple of weeks. However, he said it could take longer given the complexity of the plan.
Bailey says realistically it will take 5, 10 or even 20 years to play out.
"When you talk anywhere in the rage of $300 million to $1.1 billion you don’t want to go in there number 1 blindfolded and number 2 you don’t want to go in there without fully looking at every opportunity that’s been presented to us," Bailey said.
Proposals face numerous hurdles including the Coastal Zone Act, limiting industrial development on the Delaware River.
