Quote:
Originally Posted by City Wide
Is this because of the length? The port just announced its $300M expansion a couple of months ago; pretty sure nothing has changed let. And the deeper channel isn't finished. Or does this ship just represent a new regular service, a new route, into the port?
|
Holt Logistics who manages the Port made a push over the past 2-4 years to attract new routes/service. These new services require larger ships on a more frequent basis. The port can currently handle them (granted these are bigger ships, but not the size you'd see in Long Beach or NY/NJ). But there have been limitations with the channel (one small section still remains to be deepened), the number the port can handle at one time, and the time to offload/load.
With wider ships, the existing container cranes cannot reach all the way across the ship. They dock the ship, work something like 50-75% of the ship and then turn the ship around to work the rest. The new cranes included in the $300million investment will eliminate the need to turn the ship.
Just recently a 2nd berth for the auto carrier ships opened and Holt is trying to attract customers to export cars from Philly rather than just the imports.
1.) In August 2016, the Mediterranean Shipping Co. started a route from Chile/Peru to Philly and then onto Europe. There are weekly PanamaX ships.
2.) Hamburg Sud started importing beef from Brazil back in Oct '16. I think they bring in several ships a month.
3.) In April 2017, Philly was added to the Alliance Atlantic shipping loop connecting the US East Coast with Europe. There is a weekly ship.