Delaware pushes ahead on terminal meant to divert traffic

Delaware and Massachusetts-based operator Enstructure say they’re moving forward with a long-delayed Delaware Container Terminal projected to handle up to 1.2 million TEUs a year—about 600,000 full trailer loads—at an estimated cost of $669 million. The projec

For years, Delaware’s plan to build a new container terminal has sat half-finished on paper—blocked, challenged, delayed. Now the project is stepping back into motion, with Delaware’s port corporation and its Massachusetts-based operator, Enstructure, saying Tuesday they are going ahead.

The Diamond State Port Corp. (DSPC) and Enstructure described a “next-generation container terminal” that would be able to handle more trailer loads than Philadelphia’s ports. which tried to halt Delaware’s earlier expansion proposals. The development deal is described as backed by Delaware’s port union labor leaders.

Under the plan laid out by DSPC and Enstructure. the terminal would be designed to move up to 1.2 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) annually—about 600. 000 full trailer loads a year. That would be around one-third more than the Philadelphia ports handled in 2025, their biggest year ever. Delaware and Enstructure also pointed to the reality of what moves through Philadelphia: more than half of Philadelphia container cargoes are refrigerated. and the city’s docks serve as a major U.S. port for South American fruit, especially Central American bananas.

The project carries a price tag of an estimated $669 million, with Delaware and Enstructure sharing the cost. Delaware said it plans to seek federal grants to help cover the expense. The first cargoes are scheduled to pass through the facility in 2028.

That timeline, and the size of the investment, matter because the proposal is not just infrastructure. It is also a bid to change the flow of freight on the Delaware River. Philadelphia last year announced plans to add new container terminal space in South Philadelphia.

Delaware’s ability to proceed has depended on a set of permit battles that have played out in federal court. The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PhilaPort) and Holt Logistics Corp. the family-owned company that operates cranes. warehouses. and other port facilities in South Philadelphia and Gloucester City. sued to block an earlier version of Delaware’s proposal. They convinced a federal judge that Army Corps of Engineers permits for wharf and dredging work were inadequate. Army Corps permits were issued again earlier this year, clearing a path for Delaware’s project.

Delaware, meanwhile, has faced operational pressure at its own port facilities in Wilmington. Complaints to state officials and concerns that cargo could move elsewhere have followed problems keeping the Christina River channel dredged. Chiquita fruit ships touched bottom there last winter.

The latest Delaware push comes with bipartisan political backing. Democratic Gov. Mark Meyer has key support for the project. and Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez—who chairs the port corporation as Meyer’s secretary of state—said it was time for Delaware to compete “fairly” on the Delaware River against out-of-state competitors trying to stop the project.

In a statement, Patibanda-Sanchez said, “While out-of-state competitors continue their efforts to stop this project, it is time to move forward and make sure Delaware’s port can compete fairly on the Delaware River.”

Meyer, in a separate statement, framed the terminal as job creation and economic strengthening. “This project is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create thousands of good-paying union jobs and strengthen Delaware’s economy,” he said.

Meyer did not provide a detailed timetable for construction. saying only that the new permits bring the state “one step closer” to building a new facility. He has also rebuffed efforts by Pennsylvania and New Jersey to join forces in a tristate effort to develop new port facilities to better compete with the New York area and southern cities.

The terminal is set to be built on the site of a former DuPont plant between the Delaware and I-495, the I-95 bypass that overlooks Wilmington’s port three miles to the south. Both locations are north of the Delaware Memorial Bridge twin spans, which ships must clear to reach them.

Enstructure is expected to oversee development and future terminal operations under a long-term concession framework. William B. Ashe Jr. a vice president of the International Longshoremen’s Association—the East Coast’s main port workers’ union—and president of Wilmington-based ILA Local 1694. said in a statement that the new terminal would reinforce the role union members play as dockworkers face pressure to automate.

The federal-court setbacks and permit delays are now behind the project for Delaware. But the question that will hang over Wilmington and Philadelphia alike is simpler than any legal filing: once the terminal opens in 2028. how much of the region’s container traffic will it actually pull—and at what cost to the ports that tried to stop it.

Delaware Container Terminal Enstructure Diamond State Port Corp. DSPC Philadelphia ports PhilaPort Holt Logistics Army Corps of Engineers permits Christina River dredging Wilmington port union jobs International Longshoremen's Association Local 1694 Mark Meyer