Posts Tagged “Port of Philadelphia”
PhilaPort is known for being a prime destination for imported fruits and this situation is not expected to be negatively impacted due to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore after being hit by a ship on March 26. It resulted in the deaths of 6 people, and widespread speculation over its impact on other East Coast ports.
The Port of Baltimore does not handle large produce volumes. However, those ships normally going to Baltimore now have to reroute to other East Coast ports. This raised numerous questions about the capacity to handle the additional cargo.
The Port of Philadelphia is a major destination for produce imports in the U.S., and has already received additional ships and will continue to receive more.
PhilaPort has experience with the type of cargo being diverted and is confident it will be able to handle it, without affecting other operations.
At PhilaPort, 54% of the containers handled are refrigerated, establishing itself as the go-to port for produce.
The Delaware River port community encompasses three separate entities, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Among the three, they account for $6.6 billion in total food imports, with fruits and vegetables accounting for more than $4 billion of that total.
Both New York and Virginia, have larger ports capable of providing the additional offload service, meaning those imports don’t have to be delivered to Philadelphia.
For the automobile industry, one of the largest categories for the Port of Baltimore, it is not expecting a big flood of additional cars.
The Port of Philly gives priority to fruits and vegetables, receiving large shipments from the west coast of South America.
PhilaPort expects no negative impacts on its produce shipments from any diversion noting it has dealt with cargo surges in the past.
Philadelphia received its largest ship ever, the CMA-CGM Marco Polo, a 16,000 TEU ship recently. The model is the largest type of container ship that can land in the U.S. East Coast.
The ship was scheduled to go through the Suez Canal and pick up clementines in Morocco. However, the conflict in the Red Sea meant the ship had to go south around South Africa.
With the opening of this seasonal service, the port is optimistic it will be receiving a lot more fruit in the future.
Since this route starts in China, it should open opportunities for frozen fruits and vegetables from East Asia in the future.
Additionally, members of the Cosco Shipping Lines company intend to start a new service from the west coast of South America to Philadelphia.
The details of this new route have yet to be revealed , but the port expects the service to start soon.
It very well could ship from Chile, Peru, and Ecuador with fruits up to Philadelphia.
This means now the top 5 global shipping companies will have operations in the Port of Philly.
The Port of Philadelphia, PhilaPort, had a record-breaking year in growth in 2021.
The Port saw double-digit growth in containers, breakbulk and overall port tonnage for the year.
Year-to-Date TEU volumes have increased 15% to 739,323 TEUs, with imports growing 16% and export 15%. PhilaPort surpassed its 2020 total TEU count of (640,799), marking another new milestone.
“It has been an interesting year full of challenges and opportunities,” said Jeff Theobald, PhilaPort Executive Director and CEO. “Not only did we surge in container volumes, but some BCOs (beneficial cargo owners) shifted to breakbulk shipments. PhilaPort is one of the only U.S. ports that has several facilities that are purpose-built to handle breakbulk. PhilaPort steel volumes were up 196%, cocoa volumes went up 106% and wood pulp & lumber volumes increased over 10%.”
Breakbulk YTD cargo volumes grew 19% to 1,288,226 metric tons. Breaking our end-of-year volumes from 2020 (previous 1,083,427 metric tons).
Overall Port tonnage YTD volumes grew 10% to 7,062,523 metric tons, crushing the Port’s highest record set back in 2017 at 6,868,747 metric tons.
Other December Cargo Highlights (Year-End Summary):
• Steel Tonnage +196% YTD
• Wood Pulp +11% YTD
• Lumber +11% YTD
• Cocoa Beans +106% YTD
• Vessels +7% YTD
PhilaPort, 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.
Imports of fresh produce remain strong as container volumes at PhilaPort’s Packer Avenue Marine Terminals are up 5 percent, maintaining an eight-month surge.
The increase at the Port of Philadelphia leaves it as the only East Coast port to grow cargo volumes during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a news release.
“We are extremely proud of our results,” Jeff Theobald, executive director and CEO of PhilaPort, said in the release. “This proves that the infrastructure work we have done, in conjunction with the hard work of our longshoremen, terminal operator, Greenwich Terminals, and commercial support from Holt Logistics, is already paying off.”
The Packer Avenue Maine Terminal handles a variety of cargoes, but is known for handling and distributing refrigerated cargoes.
Leo Holt, president of Holt Logistics, said the company is on track to reach double-digit growth in refrigerated cargo volume this year.
“Consumer demand for fresh fruits and vegetables remains at an all-time high,” Holt said. “We remain ready to meet this demand and provide a safe and efficient supply chain for our clients.”
A project to deepen the Delaware River main channel is complete.
“And now that we have this and other major infrastructure improvements in place, developers are taking notice.” Sean Mahoney, director of marketing at the port, said. “They are continuing their investments in new distribution warehousing in South Jersey and Lehigh Valley.”
It certainly isn’t that good, but here are your best bets for fresh produce loading opportunities in the Eastern Time Zone.
Florida
It is Florida hands down, but even here you are looking at multiple pickups and multiple drops in most cases.
Nearly 750 truckload equivalents of Florida tomatoes are being shipped weekly. This is mostly the mature greens, with much smaller volumes found with grape (cherry) and plum tomatoes.
Strawberries from the Plant City, FL area are averaging about 575 truckload equivalents a week. There are modest amounts of fresh grapefruit and oranges, with even smaller amounts of other citrus amounting to around 475 truckload equivalents weekly.
There also are lesser amounts of cabbage, sweet corn as well as a new crop of red potatoes just getting underway.
Florida produce shipments primarily from central and southern areas – grossing about $3200 to New York City.
Port of Philadelphia
Chilean fruit arrivals by boat at Philadelphia are averaging around 750 truckloads a week. This consists mostly of table grapes although there are some peaches, plums and nectarines.
Michigan
Not much here except apples from the Grand Rapids area in the western part of the state, as well as some onions.
North Carolina
Sweet potatoes by shippers mostly in the Eastern part of the state are averaging over 200 truckloads a week.
Imported Peruvian grapes arriving at the Port of Philadelphia has skyrocketed since 2012, when 1,000 tons of the fruit entered Philly port facilities.
The season for Peruvian grape exports is October through March.
By 2016, that number totalled 30,000 tons compared to 52,000 in 2017 and has been 60,000 tons, and more, in 2018 and 2019.
Port figures reveal fresh and dried grapes account for around 28 percent of the Peruvian freight tonnage shipped to Philadelphia. The fruit is second only to Peruvian oil from petrol and bitum mineral.
Peru’s third-largest product into Philadelphia is fresh or dried dates, figs, pineapples and avocados. This accounts for about 15 percent of the volume. That volume has ranged between 8,000 and 12,000 tons per year since 2013.
Coming in third are onions, shallots garlic and leaks with volume ranging between 4,000 and 7,000 tons per year since 2015.
There was no volume coming into Philadelphia in 2012.
Citrus accounts for roughly 10 percent of Peru’s ocean freight volume into Philadelphia. Bananas and plantains are a much smaller percentage.
Other fresh produce received in Philadelphia from Peru includes blueberries, tangerines, pomegranates, lemons, artichokes, asparagus and peppers.
As the the port of Philadelphia’s $392 million Main Channel Deepening Project approaches completion, cargo volumes in the port are surging, according to PhilaPort.
In 2017 container cargoes grew by 19 percent, leading all ports on the Atlantic seaboard. The growth is especially significant since the port is busy implementing its $300 million capital improvement plan.
“We have a lot of exciting developments all occurring at the same time; record cargo growth, preparation for the deepened channel and the arrival of our new cranes,” said Jeff Theobald, executive director and chief executive officer of PhilaPort. “It’s all very good news and we want to make sure we support the surge in cargo with proper training and landside and infrastructure improvements.”
The first two of a total of four super post-Panamax cranes are due soon at the port’s Packer Avenue Marine Terminal. Ocean carriers are already supporting the growth by scheduling Ultra Large Container Vessels to call the port. Several 11,000 TEU vessels started calling PAMT in December and 12,200 TEU vessels are expected in the coming days. Recently the board of directors of the port of Philadelphia granted funds to the Pilots’ Association for the Bay and River Delaware to train for these new class of vessels 12,000–14,000 TEUs.
The long-anticipated completion of the Delaware River Main Channel Deepening Project from 40 to 45 feet is drawing to a close. In March, the port expects announcements on a phased approach, which will allow vessels to utilize increased arrival and departure draft depth.
| PhilaPort, the port of Philadelphia, is an independent agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania charged with the management, maintenance, marketing and promotion of publicly-owned port facilities along the Delaware River in Philadelphia, as well as strategic planning throughout the port district. PhilaPort works with its terminal operators to modernize, expand and improve its facilities, and to market those facilities to prospect port users. Port cargoes and the activities they generate are responsible for thousands of direct and indirect jobs in the Philadelphia area and throughout Pennsylvania. |
A $300 million upgrade is coming to The Port of Philadelphia for upgrading its infrastructure, warehousing and equipment. Fresh produce is a major beneficiary of the improvements.
“Absolutely. It’s one of our key commodities we handle at the port,” said Sean Mahoney, marketing director for the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority. “We’re known for refrigeration, and we want to upgrade.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf recently announced the project, which will include about a $200 million investment in the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal — the port’s primary container terminal.
“The place we’ve always continually handled fruit and produce is Packer Avenue,” Mahoney said.
The plans call for doubling the cargo-handling capacity at the terminal, which already is the port’s busiest.
Container-handling capacity will increase, with a 900,000 20-foot-equivalent (TEU) capacity immediately resulting from the improvements, scalable to exceed 1.2 million TEU capacity in the future, a significant improvement over the terminal’s current 400,000-plus TEU capacity.
The Philadelphia port has long been known for handling Chilean fruit, and now it is expanding its presence for other countries such as Peru. This is resulting in a shift from the old form of shipping from break bulk to more containers. The increased port capacity will reflect this trend.
Construction will continue through 2020, leading to a doubling of container capacity, increasing efficiency and allowing an opportunity for future growth.
“This capital investment program will give the Port of Philadelphia the tools it needs to improve its competitive position and create thousands of family-sustaining, middle class jobs while increasing state revenues,” Wolf said in a news release.
A total direct job increase of 70 percent is projected from the current level of 3,124 to a projected 5,378 direct jobs. Total employment at the port will grow from 10,341 to 17,020.
The improvements at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, the Port’s primary container facility, will occur at about the time that the Delaware Main Channel Deepening Project, which is deepening the Port’s main shipping channel from 40 to 45 feet, will be completed.
Weekly boat shipments between the Mexican ports of Veracruz and Altamira and the port of Philadelphia have been scheduled by Miramar, Fla.-based SeaLand of Miramar, FL.
The service will provide goods such as avocados, lemons and tomatoes, according to a Sealand news release. It is geared for producers and exporters of perishable goods to the U.S. and provides the economies of scale, security and reliability of an ocean service combined with expedited transit.
From Philadelphia, Mexican shippers can reach up to 40 percent of the U.S. population within a day’s drive by truck. The service features a six-day transit time, and its first sailing is planned for January 26 out of Veracruz.
The SeaLand Atlantico service will have the following port rotation: Veracruz-Altamira-Philadelphia, the release said.
“We are pleased to provide Mexican exporters an alternative to land transport with a high level of security and care for their products,” Jorge Monzalvo, SeaLand Mexico commercial manager, said in the release. “With the SeaLand Atlantico customers avoid transloading cargo, congestion at the border and limited truck power between countries.”
Holt Logistics Corp., of Gloucester City, NJ has landed separate business agreementsthat has attacted two additional weekly shipments from South America and Central America to Philadelphia’s Packer Avenue Marine Terminal.
The “South American Express” service started June 3rd, operated by SeaLand, the Denmark-based Maersk Group’s intra-Americas regional ocean carrier, plans to begin calling on the terminal.
The service previously terminated in Norfolk, Va., and the change expands SeaLand’s direct connections from Central America into the northeast and provides shippers with better access to U.S. consumers and a user-friendly docking environment for refrigerated peribshable goods, including tropical fruits and other commodities, according to a news release.
Additionally, a joint vessel sharing agreement between SeaLand and American President Lines is designed to create a new “North American Express” service that should attract an additional ship to the terminal each week.
The “North Atlantic Express” service is pending regulatory approval but is scheduled to commence in late June.
The service rotation plans to cycle between the Manzanillo International Terminal in Panama, Cartagena, Columbia, south Florida, Savannah, Ga., Philadelphia and New York.
It boosts SeaLand’s network and offers additional direct connections and service between the West Coast of South America, Central America, the Caribbean and the U.S. East Coast. Business at the Port of Philadelphia continues to grow, and the addition of two weekly service calls from SeaLand/APL will increase efficiency, shorten overall transit times and provide greater opportunities to expand business in both perishable and non-perishable commerce between North and South America.
by Western Cape Citrus Producers Forum
Citrusdal, South Africa – Excellent weather conditions in South Africa have contributed to an earlier citrus harvest in the Western and Northern Cape regions of South Africa, resulting in earlier arrivals of citrus to the US. Containers carrying Easy Peelers and Navel oranges will arrive at the Port of Newark over the next 2-3 weeks.
“Favorable weather conditions and optimum fruit ripeness determined the onset of the harvesting period. Our growers believe that in terms of fruit color and eating quality, it is perhaps the best fruit in years to start the season. The high eating quality is preferred by the US consumers,” said Suhanra Conradie, CEO of the Western Cape Citrus Producers Forum.
The first conventional vessel will arrive at the Port of Philadelphia at Gloucester City by June 15th bringing with about 3,800 pallets of Easy Peelers and Navel oranges. Two other conventional vessels are scheduled to arrive by June 25th and July 6th. “The detailed shipping plan has conventional vessels arriving through October usually every 10-12 days, based on market demand. Container vessels with smaller volumes will arrive between to assure a steady supply of our citrus,” said Conradie.
A pilot project at The Port of Houston will continue and is set to receive shipments, and provide key access to expanded Midwest and Far West regions of the US. “While we have seen 12 percent growth with volumes last year at about 45,000 tons, it is possible that we will ship more during the 2015 season,” said Conradie.