SAN FRANCISCO, May 21, 2010 (RISI) -The Philadelphia (PA) Regional Port Authority this month opened a new 115,000 ft2 forest products warehouse at Pier 74a in south Philadelphia, the newest addition to the port's Forest Products Distribution Center, which is operated by Penn Warehousing & Distribution, Inc., with stevedoring services provided by J.H. Stevedoring.

Philadelphia's Forest Products Distribution Center now encompasses Piers 78/78a, Piers 80/80a, Piers 38/40, and, now, Pier 74a. The new warehouse opened May 10.

One major forest products importer, M-real, left the Port of Baltimore (MD) for the new Philadelphia facility.

M-real will vacate a $32 million warehouse in Baltimore built specifically for it in 2005, in favor of cheaper costs in Philadelphia, theBaltimore Business Journalreported. M-real's cargo of magazine paper rolls makes up about a tenth of Baltimore's forest products cargo volume and employs 100.

The relocation of M-Real will result in up to 24 new vessel calls annually, 150,000 tons of cargo and 82 new jobs, Philadelphia officials said.

Most of the cargoes handled at Philadelphia's Forest Products Distribution Center are rolls of high quality coated paper from Finland and Sweden, the agency said, as well as other European countries and South America.