State of the Ports Address 2016

The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) is located
in the fifth largest metropolitan area in the United States. Something that you
might not know is that the Philadelphia port is a global leader in food imports,
which is due to their vast temperature controlled storage capacity.
Additionally, the port has less congestion compared to other east coast ports,
with a quick ship and truck turn times with multiple rail connections in the
area. There are over 250 distribution centers that lie within the PRPA’s
immediate hinterland. This
year marks PRPA’s 6^th year of consecutive growth! 

The Philadelphia Port has exciting new updates to their
port. They have been working on a channeling deepening project to allow for
bigger ships to enter,
which is influenced by the Panama Canal expansion. This is 80% complete
and expected to be completed by 2017. They are doing upgrades on their Tioga
Marine Terminal, Southport Marine Terminal Complex, and multiple other piers that
they own. This will accommodate for bringing in more cargo to the port, which
creates more jobs and more trade in the region. They also recently created a
partnership with Sealand, which created a direct shipping line to Mexico. This new shipping line takes
only six days for cargo to travel from Philadelphia to Veracruz. 

 


The Harrisburg International Airport (HIA) serves the central
Pennsylvania region with residents who purchase nearly $1 million departing
airline tickets annually. Something that you might not know is that the
airport is actually a self-sustaining entity that does not rely on any state or
federal subsidies to operate. Given this, HIA continues to provide growth to the central PA region,
creating nearly $1 billion in economic activity. 

For
passenger flights, Air Canada, Allegiant, American, Delta and United currently offers
nonstop service to 11 destinations with connections worldwide. In 2015, an
average of 3,290 passengers used the airport each day to fly domestically and
250 people used the airport each day fly internationally. The top five
international destinations for 2015 included Toronto, Cancun, San Juan, London,
and Shanghai. New this year, the airport is offering direct flights to Punta
Gorda, Florida, and an all-inclusive vacation package to the Bahamas.

HIA ranks 76^th in the nation for cargo shipments,
which is higher than airports such as San Jose, Oklahoma City, and Norfolk. At
HIA, there is a FedEx hub for cargo coming from Williamsport and Scranton. UPS also
recently built a “Hub in a Box” at HIA that created approximately 100 jobs and
an expected $168,000 in new revenue each year. December 2015 was a record month for the airport with
5,722 tons of cargo flown to and from the region.

Although there have been some new challenges in the airport
industry from mergers, low fuel prices, and less flights, the Harrisburg
International Airport continues to make expansion and customer service their top
priorities to deliver an altogether better flying experience. Looking to the
future, Shaner Hotel Holdings will be developing a new hotel at the airport
that will have 120 rooms, meeting spaces, a restaurant, and bar. This is to be
open by 2017.  

Overall, the State of the Ports Address showed us how important
logistics is to boosting trade in our region. It informed attendees of new
growth that will help the local economy grow. For more details, please click
here to download the Philadelphia
Regional Port Authority presentation and click here to download the Harrisburg
International Airport presentation.