Paulsboro Marine Terminal Welcomes First Shipment In 50 Years
PHILADELPHIA, PA (CBS) -- The first shipment has unloaded its product, tons of steel slabs, at the Paulsboro Marine Terminal. It's the first port constructed on the Delaware River in more than 50 years.
The 200 acre site is now fully operational after a dormant British Petroleum oil tank farm was recycled on Paulsboro's Delaware Riverfront.
"More commerce into this region, more jobs, more competitiveness, nothing but upside, said assemblyman John Burzichelli, the former Mayor of Paulsboro.
Burzichelli and Senate President Stephen Sweeney used their particular set of skills over the years to help line-up state funds and grants to prep the site, across the river from Philadelphia International Airport.
Sweeney said it's a state of the art facility.
"Everything with the port is movement. The less moves, the more efficient it is, and the more money you make," he said.
Burzichelli said the current 850-foot wharf will be expanded, with more berths planned, as tenants sign on.
"This wharf is only phase one. There are two more legs of the wharf to be built, to be expanded by another 1600 feet."
The first tenant, Holt Logistics, plans to bring two to three ships through a month, moving about 1.5 million tons of steel slabs a year, unloaded onto rail cars and shipped to mills in Western Pennsylvania and Indiana.
Burzichelli said there's talk of anywhere from 300 to 1000 jobs, depending on the tenant mix.
"In fact, they say they will be announcing a second tenant, hopefully within a couple of months."
Sweeney added Paulsboro deserves this kind of "shot in the arm."
"It's a great community of hard working blue collar people," he said. "This is just the type of industry that they need."
