The Port of Philadelphia lies where the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers meet in southeastern Pennsylvania. About 143 kilometers northeast of the Port of Baltimore in Maryland and 123 kilometers southwest of the Port of Newark in New Jersey, the Port of Philadelphia is the fifth biggest city in the United States and the largest city in Pennsylvania. The Port of Philadelphia is central to the history of the United States, particularly the American Revolution, and it was at one time the country's capital city. In 2007, over 1.4 million people lived in the Port of Philadelphia, and more than 5.8 million called the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metropolitan area home.

The Port of Philadelphia has a diverse economy with busy industries in manufacturing, food processing, oil refining, financial services, healthcare, biotechnology, and tourism. The Port of Philadelphia is home to several Fortune 500 companies including Comcast Corporation, Colonial Penn, Sunoco, Pep Boys, and Boeing's helicopters division. The U.S. government also has regional offices in the Port of Philadelphia. The United States Mint's East Coast operations are based in the Port of Philadelphia. The East Coast commuter rail, Amtrak is an important employer in the Port of Philadelphia.

With several law schools in the city, the Port of Philadelphia is a national center for law and the headquarters for the American Law Institute. Since the colonial era, the Port of Philadelphia has been a center for medicine, and it had the first hospital in British North America as well as the U.S.'s first medical school. As a medical and medical research center, the Port of Philadelphia area supports several companies in the pharmaceutical industry as well. Tourism is an important part of the Port of Philadelphia economy. In 2008, it was the United States' 11th most-visited city, with some 710 thousand visitors coming to the Port of Philadelphia from other countries.

When Europeans arrived in the area of the future Port of Philadelphia, they found the Leni Lenape, known today as the Delaware people. These indigenous people had already been visited by the white man's presence. Not only had they received European goods in their trade with other groups, they had been visited by white men's diseases. By the time the Pennsylvania colony was established the indigenous population was already shrinking.

When King Charles II granted William Penn the province of Pennsylvania in 1681 to settle a debt and populate the region with Englishmen, he provided a place for religious freedom for Penn's fellow Quakers. Penn sent William Markham to plan the Port of Philadelphia's layout, asking that he assure a location that was "…navigable, high, dry, and healthy." He asked that every home be in the middle of its own plot so that the town would be green and resistant to fire.

Arriving at the future Port of Philadelphia in 1682, Penn had to return to England in 1864. By the time he returned in 1699, the Port of Philadelphia was a prosperous town with about 10 thousand residents. Immigrants from England, Germany, Scotland, and Ireland were attracted to the town by its fast-growing prosperity and Penn's policies of religious tolerance, participatory governance.

By the 1770s, the Port of Philadelphia was home to 30 thousand people, and it was the British Empire's third most important business center. Located where the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, it offered easy access for inland farmlands and to coal and ores that helped build the country's iron industry. By 1756, the Port of Philadelphia was a major trade center where foodstuffs and wood products were exported to the West Indies in exchange for sugar, rum, and other products on their way to England. The Port of Philadelphia led foreign commerce in the United States until 1810, when New York City took over its position.

The Port of Philadelphia was also a leader in textile manufacturing and tool-making. The first American steam locomotives were built there. By 1860, almost a third of U.S. manufacture value was produced in the Port of Philadelphia. During the American Civil War, the Port of Philadelphia provided ships, iron products, textiles, refined sugar, leather, boots, and shoes to the Union Army.

Early Philadelphia was a wealthy city, and it was a leader in the arts, sciences, and culture. Benjamin Franklin lived there, leading American scientific and intellectual affairs. The Port of Philadelphia contained many of the country's firsts -- a free library, a hospital, and a learned intellectual society -- all founded by Franklin.

Other early American notables called the Port of Philadelphia home, among them physician Benjamin Rush and astronomer David Rittenhouse. A publishing and printing pioneer, the Port of Philadelphia had 23 printers and newspapers in 1776.

The Port of Philadelphia was the site for the First Continental Congress in 1774 and the Second Continental Congress that issued the Declaration of Independence. It was the center for governance during the American Revolution and the site of several important events, including the famous severe winter at Valley Forge. The Port of Philadelphia was occupied by the British for a time. In 1877, the Constitutional Convention met there to frame the Constitution, and it was the Nation's capital from 1790 to 1800.

The early Port of Philadelphia grew naturally as local merchants sought to increase their trade networks. They built piers and warehouses along the rivers' banks. By the time the city established a reputation for handling large volumes of cargo, the city government started building piers and warehouses of its own.

The Port of Philadelphia hosted the first Republican National Convention in 1856, reflecting its strong opposition to slavery. After the Civil War, the Port of Philadelphia was dominated by the Republican Party machine that played a central role in the election of governors and senators. In the 1930s, the Great Depression hit the city hard, but the Port of Philadelphia refused help from the Democratic Roosevelt Administration to avoid regulation of business and taxes.

A group influenced by Roosevelt's New Deal called the Young Turks, however, called for reform of the city's charter and a city planning commission. Eventually leading to dominance by the Democratic Party, most of the Port of Philadelphia's officers were Democrats through the latter 20th Century.

In the first part of the 20th Century, the Port of Philadelphia's Department of Commerce managed the waterfront. By the mid-1960s, however, operations and maintenance were too expensive for the city to handle. It formed the quasi-public non-profit Philadelphia Port Corporation to lease facilities and market the port. The new organization made many improvements to the Port of Philadelphia during the 1960s and 1970s. They created the almost 43-hectare Packer Avenue Marine Terminal and the 47-hectare Tioga Marine Terminal.

Like many large American cities, the Port of Philadelphia was rocked by protests, riots, and racial conflict during the 1960s and 1970s. Drug-related gang violence and crack thrived in the slums, and a tragic conflict between police and radicals ended in the deaths of eleven civilians and destruction of 62 houses.

From the late 1960s, Port of Philadelphia gentrification and revitalization has helped improve the city center and University City. After older manufacturers left the Port of Philadelphia, the service industry sprang up, and the city launched an aggressive marketing campaign to win tourists. Independence National Historic Park was improved, and new glass and granite skyscrapers appeared, slowing the Port of Philadelphia's long-term decline in population.

By the late 1980s, the Philadelphia Port Corporation was no longer to raise sufficient funds to both operate and develop the Port of Philadelphia. The city went to the State of Pennsylvania and, in 1990, the State created and funded the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) to oversee the port, make improvements, and add new port facilities.

The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority and its 11-member board is responsible for improving and developing the Port of Philadelphia. The members represent business leaders appointed by the Governor, the state legislature, the Mayor, and the counties surrounding the Port of Philadelphia. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Defense ranked the Port of Philadelphia as a Strategic Military Port, one of only 14 such ports in the Nation, to handle U.S. international military cargoes.

The PRPA's basic mission is to secure new customers for the port, make port improvements, and keep the Port of Philadelphia as busy as possible. The Port of Philadelphia is a vital part of the city and regional economies, and the PRPA strives to preserve and continue the Port of Philadelphia's more than 300-year legacy for maritime commerce.

The Port of Philadelphia handled a total of 35.1 million tons of cargo in 2007 and more than 167 thousand TEUs of containerized cargo.

The Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, the Port of Philadelphia's biggest facility, is a state-of-the-art cargo-handling facility for containers, steel, perishables, project, and heavy-lift cargoes. The Port of Philadelphia's Packer Avenue Marine Terminal includes six berths totaling over 1.1 kilometer in length with alongside depth of 12.2 meters. It contains one roll-on/roll-off ramp. It covers 45 hectares and contains four warehouses with almost 17.7 thousand square meters for dry cargoes and 61.6 thousand cubic meters of refrigerated cargo. It also offers 1160 reefer plugs. This Port of Philadelphia terminal is within 1.6 kilometers of Interstate Highways -95 and -76 and is served by rail connections with the CP Rail System, CSX, and Norfolk Southern.

The Port of Philadelphia's Pier 84 handles cocoa beans and cocoa products on an area of 5.6 hectares including five hectares of warehouse space for dry storage. Its berth is 260.6 meters long with alongside depth of 9.14 meters. Pier 84 in the Port of Philadelphia is conveniently located to highways I-95 and I-76, and it is served by CP Rail System, CSX, and Norfolk Southern railways. The terminal also offers de-bagging, super-sacking, weighing, and testing services.

Pier 82 in the Port of Philadelphia handles fruits and vegetables, break bulk, and project and paper cargoes. Pier 82 has two berths of 347.2 meters and 260.6 meters in length, both of which have alongside depth of 9.14 meters. The terminal covers 5.4 hectares and contains 1.2 hectares of temperature-regulated space with a humidification system and 100 reefer plugs. The Port of Philadelphia's Pier 82 is located near highways I-95 and I-76 and is served by CP Rail System, CSX, and Norfolk Southern railways.

Piers 78 and 80 of the Port of Philadelphia handle newsprint, wood pulp, coated paper, and other forest products. Pier 78 has two berths of 274.3 and 260.3 meters, and Pier 80 has two berths (with roll-on/roll-off ramps) of 303 and 348.7 meters. Both piers have alongside depth of 10.7 meters. These Port of Philadelphia piers also contain 11.8 hectares of warehouse space. The Pier 74 Annex has almost 10.7 thousand square meters of warehouse storage. Pier 78 offers 33.8 thousand square meters of warehouse for storage of dry cargoes. The Pier 78 Annex contains one 19.3 thousand square meter warehouse for dry cargoes. Pier 80 offers an almost 42.4 thousand square meter warehouse for dry cargoes, and the Pier 80 Annex contains 11.6 thousand square meter of dry warehouse storage. Part of the designated Foreign Trade Zone, the Port of Philadelphia's Piers 78 and 80 offer direct transfer from ship to storage, truck, and rail. The facilities have easy access to highways I-95 and I-76 and is served by CP Rail System, CSX, and Norfolk Southern railways.

Also part of the Foreign Trade Zone, the Port of Philadelphia's Piers 38 and 40 handle the same cargoes. There are three berths of 167.64, 168, and 189 meters in length, all with alongside depth of 9.75 meters. The terminal covers 4.9 hectares and includes 1.6 hectares of warehouses. Pier 40 offers first-floor heated and humidified storage. The piers offer direct transfer from ship to storage, truck, and rail. Piers 38 and 40 in the Port of Philadelphia offer easy access to highways I-95 and I-76 and is served by CP Rail System, CSX, and Norfolk Southern railways.

The Port of Philadelphia's Tioga Marine Terminal handles containers, refrigerated fresh fruit, paper and plywood, automobiles, steel, and palletized, project, and break bulk cargo. The Tioga Marine Terminal in the Port of Philadelphia has six berths with a total length of over 1.1 kilometers that include one roll-on/roll-off berth. All berths have alongside depth of 10.8 meters. With a terminal of 47 hectares, the terminal contains five sheds with 5.9 hectares of storage, including 4.5 hectares of temperature-controlled space and 180 reefer plugs. The terminal has capacity to fumigate 800 thousand fruit boxes per day and offers 609.6 meters of rail siding for intermodal transfer. The Port of Philadelphia's Tioga Marine Terminal has immediate access to highways I-95 and I-76 and is served by CP Rail System, CSX, and Norfolk Southern railways.

Handling automobiles, heavy equipment, and project trucks, the Port of Philadelphia's Piers 96 & 98 Annex covers over 22 hectares and contains warehouses with almost nine thousand square meters of storage space.

The Port of Philadelphia is planning to build a 60.7 hectare container terminal, Southport, near the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard to meet increasing demand for international cargoes. Planned completion will coincide with the improvements to the Panama Canal to be completed in 2014.

The PRPA is the grantee of Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) #35. Covering southeastern Pennsylvania, the FTZ is located near the marine terminals and airports in the Port of Philadelphia region.

The City of Philadelphia, nicknamed the "City of Brotherly Love," is a popular tourist destination for travelers from the United States and the world. The Port of Philadelphia was the location for the signing of the United States' Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It was home to one of the Nation's Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, and it contains a museum dedicated to the icon's life and work. It is also home to the ever-popular Philly cheese-steak sandwich.

The Port of Philadelphia offers an almost overwhelming variety of interesting activities for visitors. Museums covering a range of experiences and historic interests are plentiful, and the Port of Philadelphia offers many theaters and music events for cultural adventures. Visitors can tour the city by trolley to visit the Port of Philadelphia's vast collection of historic sites from early American history, sites where movies have been made, and the city's green spaces and natural sights. For complete information on the many things to see and do in the Port of Philadelphia, please visit the city's tourism website.

The Port of Philadelphia has a humid subtropical climate with hot muggy summers and cold snowy winters. Spring and fall are glorious seasons. Rain is fairly evenly spread across the year, although the driest months come in early fall and late winter, particularly in February. The Port of Philadelphia averages about 534 millimeters of snow per year. Temperatures range from an average high of 30 °C (86 °F) in July to an average low of -4 °C (25 °F) in January.

Visitors to the Port of Philadelphia will want to see Independence National Historic Park, home of the Liberty Bell, Constitution Hall, and Independence Hall. The park contains some 20 historic buildings from the era of the American Revolution that are open to the public. This is the place where the United States was born. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed in Constitution Hall. Independence Park is the scene of holiday celebrations, particularly the huge fireworks displays on the Fourth of July. It has also been the site of large protests and demonstrations, especially during the Vietnam War. In addition to being a place of reverence for the Nation's history, the Port of Philadelphia's Independence National Historic Park is an urban oasis in the center of a big busy city. It offers gardens, sidewalk vendors, and a large grassy mall for fun and relaxation.

The Port of Philadelphia's Pennypack Park is a large city park in the northeast of the city with waterfalls, creeks, hiking and biking trails, and dedicated dog-walking trails. It is also home to the annual Pennypack Park Music Festival that began in the 1970s. In that decade, a grassroots effort started to build a bandshell in the park. During the first summer, it hosted free concerts by well-known big bands like the Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras. From the 1970s until the early 1990s, Pennypack Park offered entertainment to large crowds. By the early 1990s, however, the festivals had grown beyond the park's ability to plan and execute them, and the music events were dropped. In the 21st Century, a new group of citizens and city managers formed resurrected the non-profit corporation, and the city restored the now abandoned bandshell. Today, the annual concerts are attended by residents and visitors each summer. Pennypack Park covers more than 647 hectares of woodlands, meadows, and wetlands. Pennypack Creek runs through the park's playgrounds, bike trails, and bridle paths. This Port of Philadelphia park supports over 150 species of nesting, migrating, and seabirds birds as well as a variety of mammals and reptiles. The park contains the 1697 King's Highway Bridge, the oldest stone bridge in the country that is still in use. The 1688 Pennepack Baptist Church is preserved on park grounds. The Verree House on the Park grounds was raided by British troops during the American Revolution. Other historic remnants include abandoned railroads and mills.

Located at Penn's Landing, the Port of Philadelphia's Independence Seaport Museum is dedicated to the maritime history of the city. It covers colonial times, the days of the slave trade, and the Industrial Revolution. Visitors can watch woodworkers hand-crafting rowboats in the recreated navigation room. They can also enjoy wonderful views of the Delaware River. Home Port Philadelphia is one of the permanent exhibits. Focusing on Delaware Valley maritime history of the late 1800s and early 1900s, the exhibit features oral histories of men and women who worked and lived along the waterways of the region. The Coming to America exhibit tells the story of immigrants traveling in steerage compartments to arrive at the country's fourth largest immigration port at the Port of Philadelphia's Washington Avenue. Philadelphia and the China Trade describes the seaport's role in trade with China during the late 18th Century. Ship Via Philadelphia portrays maritime commerce from the early 19th Century through today. A miniature crane unloads cargo from a container ship, and oral presentations of merchants and longshoremen describe changes in ship and cargo-handling technology over the years.

The Port of Philadelphia is home to "America's Most Historic Prison," Eastern State Penitentiary. The prison opened in 1829 as part of the "confinement in solitude with labor" movement, and it was soon a model for as many as 300 other prisons around the world. Its radial floor plan made it easy to monitor many prisoners at the same time. Eastern State confined some of the country's most infamous criminals including Al Capone and Willie Sutton. The prison was closed and abandoned in 1971, and it now stands empty and deteriorating. Despite being abandoned, Eastern State Penitentiary in the Port of Philadelphia is still home to annual Bastille Day events. In October, it becomes one of the Port of Philadelphia's most popular attractions, the "Terror Behind the Walls" haunted house. Guided tours are available. In the show's first season, Eastern State Penitentiary was featured on "Ghost Hunters" which captured a reported ghostly figure on video.

Visitor will also enjoy the Port of Philadelphia's markets. The Italian Market offers high-quality products, but it is also both a famous national and local attraction. The Reading Terminal Market hosts Pennsylvania Amish merchants who offer fresh baked goods and organic produce among other restaurants and shops. Chinatown is located at Market East near the Reading Terminal Market.

Travelers who want to visit the Port of Philadelphia by sea can find a list of scheduled cruises on the Cruise Compete website.