By BERNIE WEISENFELD
Courier-Post Staff
The Delaware River Port Authority will pay two consultants more than $700,000 to oversee its investment in a proposed fleet of high-speed cargo ships, officials said Wednesday. As much as $620,000 will go to Vickerman Zachary Miller.
The California marine engineering firm will help the DRPA select a Delaware River terminal site for FastShip Atlantic Inc. and explore state and federal funding for the estimated $75 million port facility.
In July, the DRPA committed $7 million in start-up financing to the Washington, D.C.-based FastShip firm to develop jet-powered cargo ships to travel between Europe and Philadelphia. This is the first project of its kind. The DRPA also agreed to build a terminal once the ship firm contracted to build at least three vessels.
FastShip has patent rights on a hull design that, in combination with jet engine propulsion, could double the speed of conventional freighters. Because of their unique stern-end cargo handling system, the ships will require a specially designed and dedicated dock.
In its proposal, Vickerman outlined 14 tasks it would perform and the fees for each. They range from $4,500 for finalizing the scope and schedule of work to $39,500 for providing technical advice in the search for terminal construction funding.
In considering terminal sites, the consultant said it will look at four specifics:
Road, rail and river access ‚Environmental concerns ‚"Site geometry" (how a FastShip pier would fit on the site) ‚The site's potential for expansion.
Under an earlier $175,000 DRPA contract, the Vickerman firm identified potential terminal sites at the Philadelphia Naval Base and an unused Conrail coal dock in South Philadelphia. Other sites will also be considered.
The DRPA also named Mercer Management Consulting, a transportation consulting firm from Massachusetts, to monitor the FastShip firm's compliance with its DRPA contract. Mercer will be paid up to $98,900 over two years.
The FastShip contract sets deadlines for testing and financing the ships and securing cargo commitments, and Mercer will make sure FastShip remains in compliance.
The ship project will be funded from DRPA bridge toll revenue not used for bridge maintenance.
DRPA spokesman Joseph Diemer noted that an outside consultant was needed due to the nature of the port work, a first for the agency that operates four toll bridges across the Delaware River and the PATCO High-Speed Line.
"We have in-house engineering, but it's bridge- and transit-oriented, not marine terminal- oriented, because we've never had to do that."
And the Vickerman firm had the advantage of knowing this port because it was a consultant on building the DRPA's dockside cargo container transfer yard in Philadelphia, Diemer said.
Vickerman staff also helped develop the $155 billion Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act ... 1990 federal legislation most likely to supply funding for a Fast-Ship terminal, Diemer said. The legislation was enacted to encourage intermodal transportation ... the use of two or more modes of transportation, such as ship and rail, to move freight or cargo.
