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The Port of Philadelphia risks losing ship traffic to ports in New York, New Jersey and other states unless it accelerates implementation of its expansion plan, City Controller Christy Brady says in a new report.
PhilaPort, the agency that oversees the city’s shipping terminals and warehouses, released a strategic plan in October 2024 that calls for several measures to improve its competitiveness, including creation of more storage space, terminal modernization and a controversial proposal to deepen the Delaware River’s main shipping channel to 50 feet.
The plan, Destination 2040, would spark a traffic increase, creating 9,000 jobs directly involved in port operations and generating $3 billion in additional revenue for businesses, the agency estimated. The port has handled about 7.4 million tons of cargo annually in recent years and currently supports 8,000 direct and indirect jobs, such as those at outside businesses that serve port operations.
But Brady said PhilaPort must pick up the pace on its plan to avoid falling behind its competitors and ensure the work includes steps that other port cities have taken in recent years, such as coordinated road and rail improvements to accommodate increased cargo movement.
“The comparison with other East Coast ports demonstrates that long-term success depends on more than expanding terminals,” she wrote in her report.
“The nation’s leading ports are investing in coordinated transportation networks, deeper navigation channels, environmental initiatives, and diversified operations to position themselves for future growth. Destination 2040 reflects many of these same priorities, but timely implementation will be critical,” Brady wrote.
A decades-long project to dredge and dig out rock from the Delaware’s main shipping channel to a depth of 45 feet was completed in 2021, and the authority now wants to deepen it further to 50 feet to attract larger vessels.
The ports in Baltimore and New York/New Jersey have 50-foot channels, and the Port of Virginia in Norfolk is the deepest on the East Coast at 55 feet deep.
Environmentalists have criticized the proposal, saying it would allow salty seawater to move further upriver, threatening local water supplies and the survival of endangered sturgeon and other animals and plants that live in and along the Delaware.
A deepening project would require approvals from the Philadelphia Water Department, the Delaware River Basin Commission, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies.
