Cost estimates for Phase 1 of the Port of Wilmington Edgemoor expansion are up about five percent since projections the Diamond State Port Corporation board cited previously.
New estimates come in closer to $670 million, according to a projections shared during the board's Monday meeting.
"This has been a grueling process...," Secretary of State Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez said. "...These costs were largely due to increases in equipment costs, integrating the cleanest technology into our project expansion, and to cost escalators like inflation, which are not insignificant in this day."
The state announced earlier this month that plans to build a significant expansion to the Port of Wilmington are back on track, after its public-private partnership re-obtained federal permits pulled in 2024.
The state partnered with port operator Enstructure on the project in 2023 and committed to covering approximately 30 percent of the project’s first phase. Enstructure committed to covering about 53 percent. The project is also supported by federal grant dollars.
These increases leave about $185 million on the table for the board to negotiate with the company, Patibanda-Sanchez said.
The Port Corporation’s Interim Executive Director Brian Devine said scope of the port’s first phase shifted with development costs and an $140 million boost from an EPA grant received in 2024.
"Some things have been taken out of the project to control costs," Devine said. "But because of the Clean Ports Grant, some things have been added to the project that were not in that 2024 release."
The Clean Ports Grant covers project costs not included in the project's original scope and cost projections. Devine said the elements added by the grant are "largely electrical" and equipment based, including cranes for the port.
To control costs, the full length of the port’s dock will be built over three phases, rather than completely during phase 1.
"It's really been recast throughout the design and some of the successes of the project," Devine said.
Patibanda-Sanchez, who chairs the DSPC board, expects negotiations to go quickly. Construction is projected to start between now and June. The expansion is expected to be operational by the end of 2028.
"For me, good faith means negotiating with a true partner," she said. "And not a partner who is trying to push all of the cost over onto the state and put no skin in the game on their side."
The state is committed to helping with costs during the first phase with costs and development for phases 2 and 3 up to Enstrucutre, she said.
