The Diamond State Port Corporation announced that New England-based Enstructure, LLC, will manage the Port of Wilmington after getting final approval from a legislative panel.
With the sign-off of legislative leaders designated by the State’s Joint Capital Improvement Committee, Enstructure is prepared to take the helm at the Port of Wilmington in a matter of days, a release stated. Enstructure owns Port Contractors, a cargo-handling service at the Wilmington site.
House Speaker Valerie Longhurst and Senate President Pro Tempore David Sokola, Joint Capital Improvement Committee Co-Chairs Rep. Debra Heffernan and Sen. Jack Walsh and Controller General Ruth Ann Miller gave their approval on Tuesday of the unanimous decision by the Board of the Diamond State Port Corporation (DSPC) on July 7th to replace GT USA Wilmington, LLC.
The Journal of Commerce (subscription) reported that Holt Logistics, the largest Delaware River port operator, sweetened its bid for managing the Port of Wilmington, with other parties also expressing interest. Holt and the Port of Wilmington are rivals in handling shipments of fruits and vegetables from Central and South America and Africa.
According to a release from the state, Enstructure is a U.S. marine terminal and logistics company with a network of 21 marine terminals. With its proposal to take over operations from GT Wilmington, Enstructure is committing “significant capital investment in the current Port of Wilmington.” Enstructure estimates that in the next five years, it will invest as much as $65 million at the facility, depending on growth.
As part of the approval from DSPC, Enstructure agreed to work with the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and work with a project labor agreement with the Delaware Building and Construction Trades Council.
Representatives of both the ILA and Trades Council supported Enstructure and their proposal at the DSPC Board meeting on July 7. Restructure is also partnering with the state on the potential expansion at Edgemoor. Gov. John Carney has committed $50 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds for the project that at one point had a $500 million price tag.
“The Port of Wilmington and its workforce are critical to Delaware,” Rep. Longhurst and Sen. Sokola said in a joint statement. “Thousands of Delaware families rely on the good-paying jobs that come from our port. We look forward to working with Enstructure as the new long-term operator and investor in one of Delaware’s most important assets.”
GT USA could not move forward on the container port project at the site of the former DuPont/Chemours titanium plant. It also missed lease payments and ended up in legal battles.
The early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic also led to a sharp decline in shipping volumes, although business picked up in the past couple of years.
The Port of Wilmington is a leading source of blue-collar jobs in northern Delaware with the container port seen as a way to build employment. The proposed site of the container port once employed hundreds of people.
