Investors

Sixteen firms express interest in Philadelphia ports

The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority has received responses from 16 firms interested in developing the Southport Terminal Complex.

-

Response to the Request for Expressions of Interest (REI) for the development of the Southport Terminal Complex along the Delaware River has exceeded expectations, the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) said in a statement on Tuesday.

Sixteen firms have responded to the REI, which the state agency charged with managing and maintaining the publicly-owned port facilities along the Delaware River issued on October 1.

Interested parties were invited to submit development concepts for the design, build, financing, operation and maintenance of the Southport Terminal Complex, which comprises the 119-acre Southport Marine Terminal, the 75-acre Southport West Terminal and Pier 124 North Berth, a 1,132 foot-long finger pier.

“We’ve been well aware of the potential for Southport for quite some time, and it’s now clear that we weren’t alone in that assessment,” PRPA chairman Charles Kopp said. “The breadth and quality of the proposals we received make us very optimistic about Southport’s future,” he added.

The 16 firms expressing an interest in one or more of the three sites were: Atlantic Realty, Global Auto Processing Services, Katoen Natie Group, Liberty Property Trust, MarkWest Energy Partners, OHL Infrastructure, Philadelphia Energy Solutions, Walsh Construction, Anthony Bruttaniti (representing the Philadelphia Global Trade Center), Holt Logistics, Liberty Energy Trust, LNG America, Navigator Gas, Penn City Investments and Affiliated Companies, T Parker Host, and WesPac Midstream.

In addition to being accessible by road, rail and water, Southport also has access to hundreds of acres along the Delaware River making future expansion feasible, Kopp noted.

“Our hope is that the current Southport initiative will bring about a partnership between PRPA and one or more private firms to fulfill our potential for expansion and economic growth. These quality responses bring us a major step closer to turning that potential into reality,” he said.

The state has already begun permitting, pre-construction and site configuration work at all three sites.