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NORTH-EAST USA\\\


Wilmington – a port for the space age


T


he port of Wilmington in Delaware bid farewell to a


little part of its history recently with the rebuilding of its No. 4 berth to modern standards. Diamond State Port Corporation, which operates Wilmington, has just replaced the 400ſt long wooden-piled berth with a new facility built to modern standards in a $12m project. “The old berth was 80


years old, so I think we got our money’s worth,” said the port corporation’s deputy executive director, Tom Keefer. He explained the redevelopment of the berth, which had been out of use for ten years, would also allow the rails for the port’s multi- purpose gantry cranes, which already serve berths 1 to 3, to be extended to no. 4 berth, allowing a wide range of cargoes to be handled including containers, bulk and break-bulk. Longer term, the port – which


is the closest to the ocean on the Delaware River – could dredge berths deeper, to 38ſt from the current 35ſt maximum but this scheme will wait until the main channels on the river itself have been deepened. The port has also taken


delivery of a 100-tonne mobile harbour crane. Like much of the port’s equipment, this is a multi- purpose


unit able to handle containers and bulk cargoes


Space rockets have helped freight volumes soar in Wimington


have excellent labour relations in this port.” The perishables trade is


overall quite a steady one. Even in recessions, people need to eat, although it can be affected by good or poor harvests and exchange rate factors. Other trades are GM cars being


– and will have the added advantage of being able to move from berth to berth. The port of Wilmington,


Delaware (not to be confused with Wilmington


in North


Carolina which, as it happens, is also a seaport) is close to the city of Philadelphia, but its catchment area is much wider than that. There is quite intense competition between the ports on the US East Coast’s crowded seaboard, says Tom Keefer but Wilmington has over several years carved out a niche as the US’s leading importer


.....HAZARDOUS.....


of perishables, handling the equivalent of 200,000teu a year. Most of the traffic is containerised and arrives from central America on dedicated vessels operated by Dole and Chiquita, both of whom are tenants at the port. There is also some break-bulk refrigerated business including 200,000 tons of fruit from Chile, year-round imports of apples and pears and juice concentrate from Argentina and Citrus from Morocco. The juice importers are also the prime user of Wilmington’s


free trade zone – juice can be stored free of customs duty until it is mixed. Tom Keefer attributes


Wilmington’s success in the perishables sector to “our geographical location – we have 200 million consumers within an overnight truck delivery – and we have also been able to provide our tenants with prime real estate and space adjacent to berths 1-3, so there is a very short back- haul; we are less than a quarter of a mile from the Interstate highway system. And we also


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exported to the Middle East along with second-hand vehicles to West Africa. These could soon be joined by the products of Fisker Automotive, a company which has bought a former GM assembly plant in Wilmington and is determined to rescue hybrid vehicles from their current somewhat dowdy image and offer a car with true consumer appeal. The US is fast becoming a hotbed of alternative vehicle technology and hybrids and electric vehicles are spearheading a revival


in


automotive exports. Fisker may also import models from its plant in Finland. Historically, Wilmington has been an import-orientated port but this past year it handled record exports. It is perhaps symptomatic of the US economy as a whole, and maybe a result of the US


Government’s current export


drive, although Tom Keefer points out that there are specific factors involved, notably new petroleum coke export traffic, along with specialty chemicals, and scrap metal. Livestock exports, mainly to Turkey, have also stampeded ahead. But Tom Keefer believes that


more diversified ports such as Wilmington have weathered the economic storm better than the major container hubs which are geared overwhelmingly to


containerised imports,


and which have suffered as consumers cut back their spending. The port also handles some


unusual cargoes. A local producer makes special sand for racecourses (it reduces injuries to unhorsed riders) which is exported all over the world. And recently it handled two rocket booster cores for a Saturn II rocket, shipped by specialised ro ro vessel from Ukraine, which will be used to resupply the international space station following the loss of a robot space freighter recently.


.....HEAVYLIFT.....


Issue 6 2011


39


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