Men in tailored wool coats and women in high heels sat in folding chairs on the Port of Paulsboro‘s wharf.
At the side of the port’s first docked cargo ship, senators and port officials spoke eloquently at the microphone Thursday. The Delaware River’s first port in a half-century was built on hard-fought negotiations, a $200 million investment in the marine terminal and hard work, Senate President Stephen Sweeney said.
The port is the first link in a supply chain for steel manufacturer NLMK USA, the nation’s fifth-largest steel producer and Russia’s steel leader. The terminal is a new tool for South Jersey’s economic security.
The port is 17 years in the making, according to Sweeney. Thirteen years later, South Jersey Port Corp., Gloucester County Improvement Authority and state officials broke ground for the port’s first phases. Sweeney indicated more money is coming for second and third wharfs.