Traffic, cargo up at local ports
Ships carrying fruit, steel, and cars and other cargoes were up 5 percent last yearat private and public piers and terminals on the Delaware River, the Maritime Exchange for the Delaware River and Bay, a trade group, said Tuesday.
Ships carrying fruit, steel, and cars and other cargoes were up 5 percent last yearat private and public piers and terminals on the Delaware River, the Maritime Exchange for the Delaware River and Bay, a trade group, said Tuesday.
Port facilities on the river handled 2,242 ships, compared to 2,135 in 2014. "We are finally starting to turn the corner after the 2008-2009 economic down turn," said Dennis Rochford, president of the Maritime Exchange. "Last year, saw the highest vessel arrival count since 2008."
Both imports and exports grew, Rochford said. The growth in exports was due in part to the expansion of the Marcus Hook industrial complex and the movement of gas products from the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania to Marcus Hook, where the gases were loaded onto ships bound for other U.S. and foreign ports, Rochford said.
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