Updates on federal permits necessary for the Port of Wilmington expansion remain confidential to the public, but project leaders press on.
The legislatively created Port of Wilmington Expansion Task Force met Monday and entered executive session out of the public eye to discuss ongoing litigation over the status of federal permits revoked by a federal judge late last year.
Those permits are crucial to the creation of the Edgemoor Port, a proposed state-of-the-art $635 million container terminal that would significantly expand the load capabilities of the Port of Wilmington.
Cabinet secretaries from the Meyer administration remained absent from the task force meeting, but his agency heads did attend a Diamond State Port Corporation Board (DSPC) meeting two hours later.
That oversight body also discussed the ongoing litigation over the federal permits in a public-exempt session, but Mid-Atlantic President Bayard Hogan of Enstructure, the Port operator, says ground-breaking is still on track.
“In about Q2 of next year is when we expect to break ground with finalization of those drawings at a point where we can move forward with construction in Q2 of 26," Hogan said.
If the proper federal permits come through, Enstructure is anticipating the completion of the expansion project by the end of 2028.
The project is currently in its preliminary design phase with 30% drawings expected next month.
At Monday's DSPC meeting, the board also officially voted to make Enstructure a subrecipient of an EPA Clean Ports Grant initially awarded to DSPC.
Legal counsel for the DSPC explains the grant totals over $141 million and $65 million will go to the existing Port of Wilmington while $76.5 million will go to Edgemoor for clean port equipment.
That equipment includes 60 electric yard trucks, electrifying the existing ship-to-shore cranes, as well as the electrification of other port machinery.
