Panama Canal Expansion Leads To Delaware River Cargo Boom

by Paul Kurtz

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia port officials say an expanded Panama Canal is having a positive impact on cargo shipments to our region.

January was a record-setting month along the Delaware.

"Our container volumes are up substantially, 34%, on the auto front we handled over 16,000 cars," said Sean Mahoney with Philly Regional Port Authority.

he says a third set of locks at the Panama Canal has allowed larger vessels with much more cargo space to come up river.

"The vessels went from 4500 container capacity to the 8-9000 container capacity that we're now seeing today," Mahoney explained.

A lot of the new loads are fruit and vegetables from South America.

Mahoney sees the boom continuing, and even growing further as the port approaches the completion of a nearly $400 million project to deepen the main channel of the Delaware River.