Lawmakers' Port of Wilmington Expansion task force learned at its Monday meeting that ground breaking is set for the port's Edgemoor expansion in September. That’s despite legal challenges filed against the project last month.
The Port Expansion task force monitors the project for General Assembly leadership. Its co-chairs said they’re aware of two new legal challenges to the project filed last month. Neither was discussed at Monday's meeting, since it is active litigation.
State Sen. Darius Brown (D-Wilmington), a task force chair, said the groundbreaking, set for the 14th, “is another way of showing public confidence that we're building this port.”
One of the filings challenges permits for the port’s construction, while another challenges management of the port over the last eight years.
During the Diamond State Port Corporation meeting later that day, its chair, Secretary of State Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez, also had no comment on the pending litigation. The DSPC is charged with ownership and development of the port of Wilmington. It contracted with Enstructure for its operation in 2023.
Leadership at both meetings said site prep and demolition work started months ago and will continue. Edgemoor contracted with Walsh-Soletanche JV, and all the site prep work falls under a project labor agreement, meaning the workers are under a union contract. Brian Devine, interim executive director of the DSPC, said most of the work now includes operating engineers, dock builders, and laborers.
He added phase one of the project is projected to take half-a- million man hours over the next 30 months.
Brown wanted specifics on workforce for the completed site: “there needs to be one door for people to go through.”
Devine told the task force that getting workers ready to operate the port is premature and members, “should not expect to see a lot about where those jobs are coming from over the next 12 months.”
Taskforce member and ILA Local 1694 President William Ashe asked about creating a toll for ships traveling under the Delaware Memorial Bridge and to fund physicals for port workers.
“If you charge the shipping lines enough money, they'll stop the politics that goes on,” Ashe said. “And it will also raise revenue to help anybody that can't afford to take a physical.”
Ashe's suggestion comes as the task force lawmakers question labor preparation and workforce investment needed to meet increased man power needs at an expanded port. Other union reps point out the physical exam for ILA members can cost up to $290.
Brown said he’s open to exploring a bridge toll. But he’s also interested in reducing barriers for workers who want to join in efforts to develop the port.
But Cerron Cade, with the Wilmington Mayor’s office, said the PLA means that the DSPC and Enstructure should be able to rely on its contractor for labor and training.
Cooke said the absence of representatives from the governor’s office at the task force meetings was felt on these topics.
“It's time to lay down the hatchet,” he said. “Let's get this thing started and get everybody to be on one accord.”
In the same room when the DSPC met later that day, David Burt, a DSPC director, said that along with preliminary construction, a traffic study is underway. It examines the feasibility and cost of mitigating or preventing potential traffic influxes around the Edgemoor expansion.
For residents in the Edgemoor area, he said, “the main concern boils down to the potential of truck traffic. DTC remains committed to this issue. I’m aware the community remains skeptical and concerned.”
DSPC and DelDOT will publish findings in January on feasibility and cost of limiting or redirecting traffic.
Traffic was not one of the main concerns listed in either of the lawsuits filed last month.
Large scale construction on the project is expected to start in 2027. Phase one of the Edgemoor project, which is the only phase Delaware officials have committed to help fund, is scheduled to be completed in 2029.
