The cruise terminal is being installed in a 19th-century building at the foot of South Broad Street, adjacent to the yard's Pier 2. The biggest problem is geography. Because the city is 102 miles up the Delaware River from the Atlantic Ocean, it takes a cruise ship six hours of slow steaming to reach the ocean. Only then, according to state law, can the ship's money-generating casinos be opened. Only then can a ship operator quit paying state tax on the liquor consumed on board.
Ships can reach international waters from Boston or New York in half an hour.
Another reason Philadelphia may have a hard time is that ship operators believe they have barely penetrated the market for the ports where they already base ships. Only 10 percent of U.S. adults have taken a cruise, and the best growth opportunity may be among the other 90 percent, not in experimenting with new ports, said Peter T. McHugh, president of Holland America Line-Westours. At the same time, the cruise executives and consultants said, the Philadelphia region has the large, fairly affluent population lines like to attract. The new cruise terminal can be reached easily from the region's major highways and from Philadelphia International Airport, an accessibility that New York's cruise terminal can't match, the consultants said. US Airways' buildup of service at the airport in the last two years also will work in the city's favor, the consultants said.