Gov. John Carney’s office announces the state is moving ahead with the long-planned new port terminal in Edgemoor.
The state will join the private operator of the Port of Wilmington, Enstructure, on the $635 million project that join the current Port of Wilmington to form “Port Delaware.”
The new facility will quadruple the port’s capacity for container cargo and give access to newer and larger ships.
“For decades, jobs at the Port of Wilmington have been a gateway into the middle class for thousands of workers and their families,” Carney said in a statement. “[The port] will bring new, good-paying union jobs to Wilmington. I am pleased to see strong bipartisan support for this important and necessary next step in making the planned Edgemoor expansion a reality.”
“We are excited to partner with the State of Delaware, the Diamond State Port Corporation, the Delaware Building Trades and the International Longshoremen’s Association to significantly expand Delaware’s port infrastructure,” said Enstructure Co-CEOs Matthew Satnick and Philippe De Montigny in a statement.
Officials say construction will take around three years, creating more than 3,900 construction jobs and generating about $42.3 million in tax revenues. Once completed, the terminal is estimated to create nearly 6,000 new jobs, including more than 3,100 direct jobs.
The state is handling 31% of the cost. That $195 million will come from excess abandoned property revenue made available in previous Bond bills for specific one-time uses.
Enstructure will foot more than half of the bill, about 53 percent, and the remainder will come from federal sources and the Diamond State Port Corporation.
In 2022, Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester helped secure $9.2 million for operations and maintenance work on the Wilmington Harbor, including a new management plan to support the Port’s expansion to the Edgemoor terminal.
And last November, the state received another $50 million grant award from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Port Infrastructure Development Program for the Edgemoor expansion.
Carper, Coons, and Blunt Rochester applauded the project in a joint statement.
“We are proud to work with Governor Carney and the Diamond State Port Corporation to deliver the significant federal funds needed for this project, which will remediate a legacy industrial site and enable the electrification of the port to make Edgemoor one of the most energy-efficient and environmentally friendly ports in the country,” the delegation says.
State lawmakers also released statements approving of the project.
Bond Bill Chair Representative Deb Heffernan (D-Brandywine Hundred) says a project of this scale and size only works with constant and consistent communication with the community.
“DSPC and Enstructure have made guarantees to hold community meetings, establish a community advisory board made up of local community members, and develop and continually update a website with information on the construction process,” Heffernan says. “I will be watching to ensure these promises are kept and our community is kept up to date on this project that has the potential to benefit us all.
Heffernan explains the port will be a “green” port.
“It will operate like electric," she says. "It will not spew hazardous materials into the environment, it will also be green to not contaminate the river or the air that we breathe.”
Heffernan adds there will be dredging involved in construction, raising concerns about PFAS chemicals in the sedimen, but she says some of the sediment will be removed to build up the facility.
“It will be encapsulated on land," Heffernan says. "So some of the contamination of the sediment that has been there historically will be removed.”
And Joint Capital Improvement Committee co-chair Senator Jack Walsh (D-Stanton) says in a statement, on behalf of the Senate Democratic Caucus, this investment in Delaware’s future fulfills a promise to help thousands of Delaware workers support their families with good-paying union jobs.
“My colleagues and I on the Bond Committee are committed to working with Enstructure and our next governor to see this project through to completion for future generations of Delaware workers,” Walsh says.
