Building a new Southport Marine Terminal south of the Walt Whitman Bridge to attract more container cargo ships and thousands of jobs has been a goal of the city and state for years.

But tight credit and the bad economy have delayed bids to start the project. Two bids for constructing the terminal came in last spring, but state officials called them "unresponsive."

Still, the state says it intends to try again to move ahead on the terminal, estimated to cost at least $375 million, as the economy recovers and ships and cargo begin moving again.

Philadelphia Regional Port Authority executive director James McDermott Jr. said he's "extremely optimistic" that Southport will happen.

To keep it alive, Gov. Rendell has promised up to $25 million for pre-construction work on the 181-acre site, including design, permitting, site preparation, and utility infrastructure at the eastern end of the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia.

While everyone agrees the terminal is vital for the port's growth, in the mix of politics, egos, and turf battles, not all stakeholders see eye to eye.

A behind-the-scenes dispute has broken out over who owns about 300 acres of the 1,200-acre Navy Yard that could be part of Southport.

The city, through the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development, says the Navy in 2000 deeded land at the Navy Yard to the city, after the base closed.

Not so fast, says State Rep. William Keller, a South Philadelphia Democrat and former longshoreman, who contends some of the land belongs to the state under "riparian land" rights. It was once part of the Delaware River bed and was filled in by the Navy.

The Navy had no right to deed those acres.

Keller introduced legislation each of the last three years to give the 300 acres to the port authority, a state agency.

The bill passed the House and Senate last year, only to be vetoed by Rendell at the urging of Mayor Nutter.

Rendell said the city holds title to the 305 acres and title companies had issued millions of dollars of title insurance on the property.

To place a "cloud" on the ownership would "invite litigation and delay further development at the Navy Yard and perhaps Southport," he said in October.

Gregory Iannarelli, the port authority's chief counsel, said "there's very strong argument to support" Keller's bill.

Keller's latest version unanimously passed the House on Aug. 5, and awaits a vote by the Senate.

The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, the quasi-public city agency responsible for converting the former Navy base to commercial use, is emphatic the city owns the land.

Still, the city and PIDC are "fully supportive" of expanding port terminals and, to that end, agreed to provide more than 110 acres in the Navy Yard for Southport, said PIDC senior vice president John Grady.

PIDC's master plan for the Navy Yard in 2004 set aside the eastern end for port-related development.

Southport, in addition to the 110 acres, has two piers and a parcel, known as the Whiskey Yard, all owned by the port authority.

Grady said the city and the PIDC want expanded port development "and if it takes more land, great, then someone should say that. Why didn't anybody say that during the bidding process?"

James Paylor, head of the International Longshoremen's Association local, representing 1,000 members, wrote Nutter in May that the bid process had "frustrated" potential bidders. The available land was "not clearly defined" and bidders had to do expensive engineering work in order to submit bids.

TraPac Inc., a large California-based terminal operator, wrote Rendell in July that the tough economy was only part of the reason for lack of bids. The real problem was that the Southport concept "could not efficiently function as an independent terminal."

The parcel described in bid documents "simply did not contain sufficient wharf or backland area to stand alone and could only really function as part of the neighboring facility," TraPac said.

That adjacent Packer Avenue terminal is operated by the Holt family. In its bid, Holt Logistics and a German shipping company, Hamburg Sud, proposed a "phased-in development."

"Our plan was to make it an integrated facility with Packer," and extend Packer's Berth Six by another 1,100 feet for one new berth, said Tom Holt Jr.

The other bidder, Delaware River Stevedores, which operates Tioga Marine Terminal, and parent companies SSA Marine and Ports America, proposed building a three-berth terminal on 250 contiguous acres.

"We are still interested, but there are some things that have to fall in place first," said Robert Palaima, the Stevedores' president.

Port authority chairman John Estey said: "We're still in a position to go forward. We just have to wait for a little softening of the financial and credit markets. And I think we'll be ready to try again early next year sometime."

Contact staff writer Linda Loyd at 215-854-2831 or lloyd@phillynews.com.