The Port of Philadelphia continues to grow

The Port of Philadelphia (PhilaPort), which is the largest refrigerated port in the United States, continues to grow.

“Philadelphia’s strength is with handling perishable commodities, typically chilled produce out of South and Central America,” said Joseph Fox, marketing manager for PhilaPort.

A few years ago, PhilaPort purchased a 29-acre site that was once the home of the Philadelphia Produce and Seafood Terminal at Third Street and Pattison Avenue in South Philadelphia, and just completed building a 200,000-square foot dry warehouse at the site, with Holt Logistics serving as the terminal operator.

“That warehouse was built with the original funding of $300 million given to us by Governor Tom Wolf in 2016,” Fox said. “And we received last year an additional $246 million from Governor Wolf before he parted the office.”

That money is going toward a 150,000- to 160,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse, which is currently in the design and bidding phase.

“We are probably about six months away from doing a groundbreaking,” Fox said. “It will take anywhere from 18-24 months from start to complete the build of that project.”

All of these new warehouses are replacing the ones that were knocked down at Packer Avenue.

“We have been seeing a greater demand for reefer warehousing space of all types — the temperature chilled and the hard frozen — for all different types of commodities,” Fox said. “This has been an opportunist situation for us.”

The port deals not only with produce but is a leader in imported meat coming from Australia and New Zealand.

“It comes down to public/private partnerships and inland stakeholders, and that includes customs brokers, warehouses, truckers… these are very technical commodities and they require more expensive equipment and more expertise in handling these,” Fox said. “We were all willing to invest in clearing these commodities.”

As for produce, things are as busy as ever.

“We’re seeing a lot of citrus from South Africa and South America right now, and those volumes look very good for us this year,” Fox said. “The Chilean season ended in April, so this is big for us as it keeps the reefer warehouses working and we are optimistic about the season.”

PhilaPort will also be building a brand-new berth (of at least 1,000 linear feet) at its Southport Auto Terminal, a 155-acre facility dedicated to autos, which was completed in 2019 and handling cars that are coming from South Korea and Mexico. Plans are underway now.

Additionally, it is looking to add some additional warehousing at the Tioga Marine Terminal. Discussions are about an additional 100,000-square-foot building to handle Brazilian eucalyptus pulp that comes into the port. Plus, the addition of two ship-to-shore cranes to increase container vessel capabilities. Upon completion of a new warehouse, Tioga Marine Terminal, which has recently seen an increase in demand for pulp, project cargoes, steel and lumber products, will have over 800,000 square feet of on-dock warehousing.

There are also talks with Holt Logistics about adding some RTGs down on Packer Avenue.

“We are constantly working with our terminal operators, importers and exporters to see what is needed to handle their cargo and invest to keep their cargo moving and growing through The Port of Philadelphia,” Fox said. “We’re fortunate that our terminals are working at full capacity and our warehouses are full. Our conversations with shippers are about building more capacity.”