Cost of Delaware port project rises, but officials won’t say where the additional money will come from

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A long-planned $635 million container terminal at the Port of Wilmington will cost the state another $110 million, but members of Gov. Matt Meyer’s administration and the state legislature won’t say where the money will come from.

The state has spent years pushing to convert a former DuPont chemical plant at the Edgemoor site into a container shipping terminal that could draw traffic away from ports in Philadelphia and New Jersey. Diamond State purchased the property on the Delaware River in 2017.

State officials and union leaders have touted the thousands of jobs they say will be created by building the Edgemoor terminal. But the project has hit a few stumbling blocks before construction is expected to start next month.

The latest challenge was a $189 million shortfall, leading to the Diamond State Port Corporation, the quasi-public entity that oversees the Port of Wilmington, and the port’s private operator, Enstructure, to commit more money to move the project forward.

Bill Ashe, president of the International Longshoremen’s Union Local 1694, said in a written statement that Edgemoor will bring good jobs to the port.

“The Delaware Container Terminal at the Edgemoor site is a transformational project for union labor, the maritime industry, and working families across Delaware and the entire region,” he said.

Delaware’s share of public funds continues to rise

According to a May 2024 presentation by then-Gov. John Carney’s administration, the terminal would be built in three phases, with the projected cost of the first totaling $415 million, and a total cost of $635 million to complete all three.

Jeff Bullock, then the secretary of state and port corporation board chair, told WHYY News at the time that the state would pay around $195 million, or about 30% of the cost. With federal grants, the state’s portion for phase one totaled $215 million. Enstructure would pay to build phases two and three when additional capacity was needed.

The first phase, under the new amended agreement between the port corporation and Enstructure, is now expected to cost $669 million, including $325 million from the state, $119 million in federal funding and $225 million from Enstructure. Under the revised deal, the state is putting in an additional $110 million, and the private port operator is ponying up another $75 million.

State Sen. Darius Brown, D-Wilmington, chairs the Port of Wilmington Expansion Task Force, a legislative oversight body. He said tariffs and supply chain issues increased prices during the time it took for Delaware to get permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reissued last month. A Pennsylvania federal judge invalidated those permits in October 2024.

“That cost is incurred and paid for through the agreement between Enstructure, state of Delaware and any external grants and things of that sort that we’re able to obtain,” Brown said.

Officials dodge questions on extra $110 million

Mike Houghton, a member of the Port of Wilmington Expansion Task Force and a former member of the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council, questioned Brian Devine, Port of Wilmington interim executive director, about where the Meyer administration would find the extra funding during last week’s meeting.

Meyer removed Houghton from DEFAC in March days after WHYY News reported on Houghton’s concerns around the transparency of corporate franchise data during that month’s meeting.

Devine said the source of state dollars was still being finalized.

“I know the administration has been working with the legislature on a funding plan for that, that they committed to in executive session, but I’m not in a position to be able to share that at this time,” he said.

However, Secretary of State Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez, who chairs the Diamond State Port Corporation Board, said a funding source had been identified but declined to say what it was.

It’s unclear where in the budget the state will pull the additional $110 million. The Carney administration tapped the state’s unclaimed property reserves to fund the $197 million in 2024. That sparked a review by State Auditor Lydia York, who released a report last year highly critical of how the port was being managed.

Brown said he didn’t believe the dollars were coming from that pot of money again.

It’s also unclear whether state lawmakers will, like in 2024, approve the money through the capital improvements bill, also known as the bond bill.

Bond Bill Committee Co-chair state Rep. Debra Heffernan, D-Bellefonte, told WHYY News through text messages that questions about the funding going through the bond bill should be directed to Patibanda-Sanchez, saying it was up to her to disclose to the public how taxpayer funds were being spent, despite the constitutional role state lawmakers have in appropriating taxpayer money.

A spokesperson for Patibanda-Sanchez said in a written statement that the House speaker, Senate president and Bond Bill Committee chairs have been consulted, “and we are confident the funding necessary to move the project forward will be available.”

In response to questions about the source of the funding, Senate spokesperson Sarah Fulton said in a written statement that budget negotiations are continuing with 10 legislative days left in this year’s session.

“Lawmakers remain committed to getting shovels into the ground on the Delaware container terminal project and will consider all options to fund this critical infrastructure project,” she said.