July 1 - The first of an anticipated six calls by ships carrying wind turbine blades for discharge, short term storage and trucking and delivery to General Electric's wind energy project sites in Pennsylvania and Indiana has taken place at the Port of Wil
The wind turbines arrived on Intermarine's Industrial Dart, following GE Energy's decision to use the Port of Wilmington as its mid-Atlantic discharge port for its largest regional wind energy project of 2009.
GE is one of the world's leading wind turbine suppliers. With more than 12,000 installed worldwide, including approximately 10,000 in the U.S.A, GE Energy's 1.5 MW wind turbine continues to expand its role as a global wind energy industry workhorse. To date, GE's 1.5 MW machines have been installed in 19 countries and have accumulated more than 160 million operating hours, generating 100,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy.
"We are extremely pleased that the Port of Wilmington was selected by GE Energy as its logistics services partner for the ship discharge, short term storage and truck load out for delivery to GE's wind energy project sites in Pennsylvania and Indiana," remarked Eugene R. Bailey, Executive Director of the Diamond State Port Corporation. "This is delicate, high value cargo and a challenging logistics project. Our previous experience with this cargo, the port's easy access to the Interstate highways system and the excellent cooperation of the City of Wilmington police, the Delaware State Police and the Delaware's Department of Transportation (DelDOT) were instrumental in the port's successful bid for this business."
Each turbine blade is over 122 feet long, 10 feet high and weighs 12,500 pounds. The Port of Wilmington will work with Port Contractors, Inc., Delaware River Stevedores and American Transport Systems, Inc. for cargo handling operations on the terminal.
