A slew of upgrades, efficiency improvements, and new services are all aimed at boosting business.

Gulftainer has big plans for its Wilmington, Delaware facility. And although port competition abounds, if lower costs and a quick rail or truck trip from Delaware to the New York-Washington, DC hinterlands ensue, shippers would no doubt take notice.

Shippers looking for an alternative East Coast terminal through which to send container cargo may soon have the option of an expanded facility in Wilmington, Delaware, which is 30 miles closer to the sea than Philadelphia.

If you judge the automotive market by the trade volumes handled by mid-Atlantic ports, Americans are buying imported cars at a torrid pace, and so are Arabs. With U.S. automobile sales up 4.5 percent year-over-year to more than 10 million units in the seven months through July, mid-Atlantic ports are enjoying strong imports. New and used-car exports, too, are flourishing.

The Diamond State Port Corp., operator of Delaware’s Port of Wilmington, and Dole Foods have reached an agreement in principle by which Dole will continue to use the Port of Wilmington...

The attempt to privatize the Port of Wilmington, Del., has foundered on the rocks of local port business and labor opposition.