Ports

Nearly one-third of America's Gross Domestic Product (the monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country's borders) is derived from international trade, and 99 percent of that trade passes through the nation's ports. Thirty million jobs are related to international trade, and $200 billion in Federal, state, and local tax revenue is generated by our ports each year. The ports on the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers handled 87 million tons of cargo in 2011 (the most recent available data), comprising 26.3 percent of the North Atlantic ports' market share. Most of the gasoline Pennsylvanians put in their cars, the food they eat, and the clothes they wear passed through the port facilities on the Delaware River. The grade of C+ reflects the fact that, although the responsible authorities have maintained the necessary depth of the fiver channels, there is not a stable funding stream, nor are there sufficient disposal areas for dredged material. As a result of insufficient funding to complete the deepening projects, the ability of the ports on the Delaware River to take advantage of the Panama Canal expansion will adversely impact their competitiveness with other eastern ports for oceangoing cargo.

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