Class of Traffic by Years

SUMMARY

Twelve cities and villages located on the shores of the Delaware River below Philadelphia and 9 cities or localities above Philadelphia have waterfront terminal facilities for handling cargo to or from vessels. Listed in the order in which they are reached by vessels going upstream, the localities are Delaware City and New Castle, Del., Pennsville, Deepwater Point, and Pennsgrove, N. J., Claymont, Del., Marcus Hook, Pa., Bridgeport, N. J., Chester and Eddystone, Pa., and Thompson Point and Paulsboro, N. J., all of which are located along the main ship channel below Philadelphia where the project depth is 40 feet, and Andalusia, Pa., Burlington and East Burlington, N. J., Bristol, Pa., Florence and Roebling, N. J., Penn Manor, Pa., and Fieldsboro and Trenton, N. J., on the 25-foot channel authorized under the existing federal project for the river between Philadelphia and Trenton. An alternate approach to the Delaware River ports is afforded by the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, extending from the river at Reedy Point, Del., just below Delaware City, to Elk River an arm of Chesapeake Bay.

There are 66 piers, wharves, and docks at the localities below Philadelphia, 22 of which are at Chester, 10 at Paulsboro, 8 at Eddystone, 6 at Marcus Hook, 4 each at New Castle and Deepwater Point, 3 each at Pennsgrove and Thompson Point, 2 each at Pennsville and Claymont, and 1 each at Delaware City and Bridgeport. Above Philadelphia, there are 5 terminals at Trenton, 4 at Burlington, 2 each at East Burlington, Bristol, Florence, Penn Manor, and Fieldsboro, and 1 each at Andalusia and Roebling.

The Delaware River, particularly the section below Philadelphia, passes through a highly industrialized section of the country. Along the 30-mile stretch of water front between Delaware City and Philadelphia there are huge oil refineries, extensive chemical works, foundries, a large shipbuilding plant

with two 10,000-ton floating dry docks, and numerous manufacturing plants.

Water-borne commerce loaded or discharged at Claymont and Marcus Hook during the years 1943 to 1946 averaged more than 10,700,000 tons and consisted chiefly of crude oil and refined products of the petroleum industry handled over the piers and wharves of the Texas Co., the Sun Oil Co., and the Sinclair Refining Co. Traffic at Paulsboro averaged more than 2,600,000 tons per year during the same period and also included large tonnages of crude oil and refined petroleum products. At Bristol the average commerce by water approximated 1,400,000 tons and consisted chiefly of shipments of sand and gravel to other Delaware River localities or to points on its tributaries. Chester and Eddystone handled over one million tons per year, including a wide range of commodities in import, export, inbound and outbound coastwise, as well as internal and local movements. The water-borne commerce at Pennsville and Deepwater Point and at Burlington and Roebling consisted principally of coal for use in the various manufacturing and power plants operated at these localities.

The Chester Tidewater Terminal and the Trenton Marine Terminal are the only facilities located directly on the Delaware River below and above Philadelphia which were designed especially for handling general cargo. The Chester Tidewater Terminal includes a pier 436 feet long and 41 feet wide, with 800 feet of berthing space 35 to 17 feet deep at mean low water, served by 9 warehouses with 80,193 square feet of storage space and by 15 acres of open storage area. The Trenton Marine Terminal is a marginal wharf, 1,200 feet long, with a wide apron and spacious transit sheds.

The Pennsylvania Railroad, the Reading Railway System, and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad serve most of the localities and water front terminals on the Dela

ware and Pennsylvania sides of the river and the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines serve the localities and terminals on the New Jersey side.

For description

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