The Port of Richmond’s Point Potrero Marine Terminal needs about $228 million in safety repairs and upgrades over the next decade to maintain operating levels, according to an assessment presented to the city council on Tuesday.
During World War II, the Point Potrero Marine Terminal was instrumental in producing the Liberty and Victory ships. It was partially converted to a modern cargo facility in 2009 but much of its infrastructure dates back to the 1940s.
The facility assessment, conducted by engineering firm Moffatt & Nichol, identified 11 priority projects, ranging from immediate safety repairs to long-term infrastructure modernization at the historic terminal. According to Port Director Charles Gerard, the port hopes to address these repairs within 10 years to sustain operations for the next 50 years.
Matt Trowbridge, executive project manager and vice president of Moffat & Nichol, said Berths 5, 6, 7 and 8 are most in need of urgent fixes that would cost nearly $205 million. The site was the home of the recently closed Riggers Loft Wine Company and currently houses the Richmond Museum Association’s Red Oak Victory Ship and the Auto Warehousing Company, among others.
An additional $22 million is needed to address what Trowbridge described as immediate safety improvements at the graving basins, where some columns have severe damage from being struck by vessels, and the finger piers on the west side of the terminal, where the assessment found exposed reinforcing steel and corrosion damage.
Portions of Berths 7 and 8 were rated in “poor to serious” condition due to damaged and missing timber piles, pavement failures from soil erosion and structural deterioration.
Trowbridge said one of the most urgent repairs involves a broken support beam near Berth 7 that has caused deck sagging.
“It’s creating a depression in the deck system at the interface between Berth 6 and 7,” Trowbridge said.
The assessment also evaluated the historic Whirley Crane, a crane that could turn 360 degrees and was used for wartime production of large-scale construction projects.
There’s extensive corrosion damage there that poses safety hazards. Recommendations range from making immediate fixes to reduce risk to the city, with a $200,000 pricetag, to complete removal of the crane, which would cost an estimated $700,000.
Another option,, Trowbridge said, would be to partially demolish the crane and preserve it in a museum setting.
The engineering team categorized repairs into four time frames: immediate/priority (within a year), near-term (within two years), mid-term (within three to six years), and long-term (within six to 10 years).
Port repairs could position it to up its revenue
When asked by District 6 council member Claudia Jimenez if the estimated repairs only considered the current port’s use capacity, Gerard said that the severe conditions were already known because prior repairs were made in 2010 but that the port continues to have “weight-bearing problems” that must be addressed if it’s going to be eventually used for heavier industrial purposes.
“The costs are high because our intention would be to remediate the entire wharf over time that would allow us to put heavier equipment or heavier cargo on any location within the wharf and within Berth 7 and 8, which is a 1,000-foot linear wharf,” Trowbridge said. “We are restricted in what areas of that wharf we could use. We want to have the option to use the entire wharf and to use it for different alternative uses.”
For example, Gerard said, the port currently can only handle vehicle imports. Making repairs would equip it to handle imports of heavier machinery and equipment.
“As an example, our current business is the RoRo business (roll-on/roll-off, a method of shipping wheeled cargo off a specialized ship) — we bring cars in. We could bring in farm equipment or construction equipment which is higher value and generates more money for the port but we don’t have the capacity to handle (that cargo),” he said.
Jimenez thinks the port is underperforming, calling its 2024 revenue of $13 million “nothing.”
“I think that the narrative — and I think to believe it — is that we underutilize the port. Having $13 million for a deep water port is nothing,” Jimenez said. “I believe that the port can be an economic engine for the city but we need to have that plan so we can start to really implement that plan and get that revenue that we can get for having such an asset like the port.”
Jimenez said she is interested in reviewing “the leases and each of the plans” to see if they align with what would be the “best use.”
Port officials plan to seek “long-term tenant leases and development agreements to finance shared infrastructure and incentivize tenant capital investment.” Gerard reiterated that any repairs would not come from the city’s already constricted budget.
Since Mayor Eduardo Martinez took office in 2022, the port has been a topic of discussion as part of the proposed “Green Blue New Deal,” which looks to implement projects such as off-shore wind turbines and manufacturing of ships powered by those turbines to smaller-scale shoreline ecotourism and surplus food rescue projects.
