STACK APPLAUDS DELAWARE RIVER PORTS FUNDING, DREDGING PROJECT

PHILADELPHIA, MAY 17, 2007: State Sen. Mike Stack applauded today’s announcement that the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority will receive $300 million in state funding for port improvements.

The funding, which will be generated through state bonds, will be used to make structural and strategic improvements to piers and terminals along the Delaware River.

“The Delaware River ports have a significant impact on our economy, so I am pleased that Gov. Ed Rendell has made a commitment to improving them,” Stack said. “This funding will create and improve jobs and it will benefit our city’s economic development and trade relations.”

Locally, the Tioga Marine Terminal in Port Richmond will receive funding to extend a crane rail, which will allow the terminal to receive more container cargo.
The terminal will also get a new 100,000-square-foot warehouse to handle Chilean fruit imports.

Sixty percent of all Chilean fruit coming to the United States is imported through ports along the Delaware River, and that number is expected to rise in the next few years.

“The Chilean fruit importing business serves as an important connection between our country and South America,” Stack said. “It sustains hundreds of jobs at the Tioga Marine Terminal, which results in millions of dollars in income and state and local taxes.”

Stack is also pleased that the governor has made an agreement with New Jersey to dredge the main channel of the Delaware River.

“In addition to improving our ports, the dredging project will also advance our region’s economic development,” Stack said. “The governor’s pact with our neighbor, New Jersey, will have a positive impact on both sides of the river.”

The project will deepen the Delaware River channel from its existing depth of 40 feet to 45 feet. The project will run 100 miles, from the mouth of Delaware Bay to Philadelphia.

Although the river is occasionally dredged to maintain the current depth of the channel, the channel has not been deepened since 1942.

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