GE channels wind turbine blades through Wilmington

GE channels wind turbine blades through Wilmington    Delaware's Port of Wilmington received a shipload of 122-foot-long wind turbine blades on Monday.
   General Electric's Renewable Energy business recently picked Wilmington as the mid-Atlantic discharge port for its largest regional wind energy project for 2009.
   In addition to ship offloading services for the wind turbine components, Wilmington provides GE Energy with short-term storage and truck load-out delivery to the company's wind farm projects in Pennsylvania and Indiana, said Eugene R. Bailey, executive director of the Diamond State Port Corp., the owner and operator of the Port of Wilmington.
   'Our previous experience with this cargo, the port's easy access to the interstate highways system and the excellent cooperation with the City of Wilmington police, Delaware State Police and Delaware's Department of Transportation were instrumental in the port's successful bid for this business,' Bailey said in a statement.
   This shipment of blades, each weighing about 12,000 pounds, was transported to the port on board the Intermarine heavy-lift vessel Industrial Dart. The port worked with Port Contractors, Delaware River Stevedores and American Transport Systems for cargo handling operations on the terminal. The turbine blades are destined for sites in Pennsylvania and India, the port said.
   The Port of Wilmington expects to handle as many as five additional vessel calls for the GE Energy regional wind energy project.