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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

The Port of Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington is located at the heart of the East Coast, and provides shippers with overnight access to every major market.

LDW: Logistics, Distribution & Warehousing 2009
The state of Delaware purchased the port from the city of Wilmington in 1995 and developed the Diamond State Port Corporation. Today, Delaware's automobile industry utilizes the port for exporting vehicles around the world. It is considered a strategic gateway to world markets.

Business & Impact
The port receives an average of 400 ships per year, which convey about four million tons of cargo. The businesses generate $31.5 million in annual gross revenue and about 19,000 direct and indirect jobs are sustained at the businesses. These jobs create $307 million in personal income, $409 million in business revenue and more than $29 million in state and local taxes. Since 1996, the state has invested more than $161 million for port development and expansion.  In turn, the port has returned more than $250 million in tax revenue.

Port Infrastructure
The port consists of seven general cargo berths on 308 acres. The port has 800,000 square feet of cold storage, the largest facility of its type in the United States. The property offers 250,000 square feet of dry warehouse space with covered rail service, and 50 acres of open space for automobiles, containers, steel, and lumber. The facility also has an auto and railroad berth on the Delaware River, as well as a staging area and a dedicated roadway for auto processors.

The Port of Wilmington's Auto & RoRo berth is located 900 feet offshore, measures 875 feet long, 115 feet wide, and has 38 feet of water depth alongside. A 1.2-mile dedicated roadway connects the berth to vehicle processing and storage facilities and an adjacent 15-acre first point of rest.

Cargo handling equipment includes two multi-purpose gantry cranes, each with 50-ton capacity and capable of high-speed container operations, and one with 75-ton heavy lift capability.

The facility has a wide portfolio of import-export products. Among the items are fresh fruit, juice concentrate, containers, vehicles and railroad, dry and liquid bulk, steel, forest products, and project cargo.

Wilmington is Volkswagen of America's Mid-Atlantic auto hub for imports of Volkswagens from Germany, Mexico, and Brazil, and Audis from Germany. From Wilmington, the vehicles are distributed to Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio.

General Motors has also selected Wilmington as its largest point of export to the Middle East.

Competitive Advantages
Among the advantages of using the port are its supply chain logistics, its reefer warehouse capabilities, flexible operations, latest technology, and security. Businesses can utilize the port's multiple berths, overnight access to one-third of U.S. and Canadian consumers, a 45-minute maximum turnaround time for trucks, and excellent interstate highway and rail access systems. And, the facility is only 64 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.


For more information about the Port of Wilmington,
contact the Delaware Economic Development Office.

Gary Smith, Director of Capital Resources
Delaware Economic Development Office
99 Kings Highway
Dover, DE 19901
Phone: (302) 672-6817
Fax: (302) 739-5749
E-mail: gary.smith@state.de.us
www.dedo.delaware.gov

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