The Philadelphia Inquirer
Pennsylvania Truckers Claim Unfair Competition at Philly Port

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The has been booming in recent years. Cargo units have almost doubled since 2016, as the deepening of the Delaware River and public investment have enabled the port to accommodate bigger ships that carry containers full of fruits and meats from such countries as Chile and Australia.
The port 鈥 long known as a top market for refrigerated cargo such as produce 鈥 in December , via a shipping line that serves South China and Southeast Asia through the Suez Canal.
A key driver of that growth has been , a South Jersey-based, family-owned company founded almost a century ago that operates terminals on both sides of the Delaware River, including Philadelphia鈥檚 largest, the .
Holt has held the lease to the Packer Avenue terminal for more than 30 years, and in just the last decade it says its companies have invested more than $200 million to support Philadelphia port operations.
The state of Pennsylvania has invested more than half a billion dollars in the port since 2016, betting that major infrastructure upgrades to the commercial hub will help power the regional economy.
But as the port grows, some in the logistics industry say Holt is getting too big, offering services that go beyond a terminal operator鈥檚 core role of loading and unloading ships. That growth has been enabled by favorable treatment from the state agency that oversees the port, critics say, adding that they鈥檝e lost business to Holt as a result of what they think could be anticompetitive conduct in violation of federal law. They warn that if the state agency that governs the port doesn鈥檛 take action, truckers who move the cargo from the docks could go out of business, and Holt will gain monopoly power 鈥 and potentially raise prices for shippers.
Holt denies engaging in anticompetitive conduct and says it has reduced costs for shippers, making Philadelphia a more attractive cargo destination in the competitive East Coast market.
Federal regulators have taken an interest in the truckers鈥 allegations. A senior investigator for the wrote in a Feb. 8 email 鈥 seen by the Inquirer 鈥 to trucking company that the agency is reviewing information and documents provided by the truckers. The agency has assigned civil trial lawyers to the investigation, emails show.
Three other trucking companies told the Inquirer they鈥檝e lost business to Holt and raised similar concerns about its business practices.
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The dispute comes after the pandemic focused the public鈥檚 attention on the importance of resilience in supply chains, as the United States faced shortages of medical products and other goods. Early in his administration, President Joe Biden signed an executive order aimed at increasing competition across the economy and encouraging more rigorous enforcement by federal regulators.
Shipping now faces another stress test amid the conflict in the Middle East, as Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea. And a severe drought in the Panama Canal 鈥 a key trade route between the U.S. and Asia 鈥 is disrupting the global economy.
While those events are shaping international trade, the biggest flashpoint in the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority鈥檚 monthly meetings on Delaware Avenue near the Betsy Ross Bridge has been Holt.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 being done here in Philadelphia is not part of the standard operating procedures of a marine terminal operator,鈥 said , who worked with ports around the country as an agent recruiter for national trucking company before starting his own trucking business.
Hellam, who says he lost business to Holt, added: 鈥淭hey are actually maintaining control over who handles the trucking and transportation portions.鈥
鈥楬ell of a Job鈥
The Holt family business started in 1926 as a small trucking company in Camden, N.J., but over time Thomas Holt Sr. grew it into an empire with an ocean cargo line and marine cargo handling operations not just in Philadelphia and Gloucester City, N.J., but also Jacksonville, Fla., and Puerto Rico.
Many of its assets were sold off after the Holt Group filed for bankruptcy in 2001, but the family continued operations in Philadelphia. Holt, a privately owned company, declined to share financial data.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e done a hell of a job bringing more business into the port,鈥 said Tim Avanzato, an executive with , a New Jersey-based import/export company.
During a tour of the terminal Feb. 16, longshoremen could be seen operating cranes to drop empty containers onto a Maersk ship that had arrived from South America carrying frozen meat, shoes, auto parts and other goods. Inspectors with Customs and Border Patrol were scanning containers, and truckers were picking up cargo.
In an interview Feb. 16, Leo Holt, the company鈥檚 president, said his family chose to invest in Philadelphia despite headwinds facing maritime transportation generally and even though ports in New York and California handle significantly more cargo.
鈥淲hilst in recent years people have become aware very painfully of the supply chain, and its fragility, we have been living it ... almost for the last century through a phenomenal period of change and growth,鈥 he said at the company鈥檚 offices underneath the Walt Whitman Bridge.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 been steady through those ups and downs is our willingness to invest in our people, our willingness to invest in facilities, and our willingness to bet on the future of the Port of Philadelphia.鈥
Some logistics executives say they鈥檙e concerned about Holt鈥檚 business practices 鈥 specifically its brokerage that connects shippers with trucking companies.
A terminal operator鈥檚 main job is to load and unload ships. With its brokerage, Holt operates in another part of the supply chain 鈥 determining how containers get from the terminal to a railroad or warehouse, where their contents are stored before reaching manufacturers, distributors or retailers. Holt also operates a new warehouse, developed with $52 million in state funds, a mile from the Packer Avenue terminal.
Holt Logistics' recently opened warehouse near the Packer Avenue terminal.
Trucking companies say Holt bundles these services 鈥 terminal, trucking brokerage and warehousing 鈥 to shippers, offering rates they can鈥檛 match. Holt also offers more efficient terminal services, such as clearing customs, to shippers that use its brokerage, truckers say. And as the terminal operator, Holt has access to information about all the cargo flowing into the port 鈥 and therefore a road map to potential customers for its brokerage business, critics say.
said his company brokers less than 4% of containers that come into the Packer Avenue terminal and is 鈥渆mulating鈥 industry best practices. The terminal operator shares data with Holt鈥檚 competitors in trucking and warehousing, he said.
, president of , said Holt鈥檚 brokerage hasn鈥檛 underbid his company, but he鈥檚 concerned nonetheless. 鈥淎s Holt gets bigger and stronger, will there be enough business for the trucking community in Philadelphia or will they absorb all of it?鈥 he said.
Infusion of State Money
As Holt has gained new business, it also has benefited from state investment in the Packer Avenue terminal. The terminal and the port鈥檚 other facilities are owned by the port authority, known as PhilaPort.
As governor, made port expansion a key part of his economic plan. It was a shot in the arm for Philadelphia, which had been a major commercial hub back when the U.S. was a manufacturing powerhouse but amid 20th-century deindustrialization and a failure to keep pace with infrastructure investment made in other cities and states.
Wolf and port leadership announced the first round of funding 鈥 $300 million 鈥 in November 2016, with two-thirds of that earmarked for the Packer Avenue terminal, which was built in 1967. The capital financed PhilaPort鈥檚 purchase of new electric container cranes, among other things, and Wolf highlighted the jobs it would create.
The Packer Avenue Marine Terminal at the Port of Philadelphia.
At the same time, the state announced it had renegotiated its leases with Holt 鈥 whose agreement dated to 1991 鈥 and two other tenants 鈥渢o market rates.鈥 As part of Holt鈥檚 amended lease, PhilaPort agreed to provide Holt 365,000 square feet of warehouse space to replace 280,000 square feet inside the Packer Avenue terminal it would tear down to make room for containers. The port says that extra container capacity has helped drive growth.
In the next two years three Holt brothers contributed $110,500 to Wolf鈥檚 2018 re-election campaign, plus another $50,000 to Wolf鈥檚 PAC in 2019 and 2020, records show. Holt Logistics also spent $90,000 on lobbying during Wolf鈥檚 tenure, according to state records.
The port authority spent $10 million in 2017 to buy a 30-acre site near the Packer Avenue terminal that was once the Philadelphia Regional Produce Terminal. The property is now home to a $42 million, 200,000-square-foot dry warehouse operated by Holt, which said it has invested an additional $25 million in the building. A second, 165,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse is underway. Officials have said the new warehouses would expand the port鈥檚 capacity to move cargo.
Truckers including South Philly-based Tri State Intermodal questioned why the port didn鈥檛 follow a competitive bidding process in selecting an operator for the warehouse. PhilaPort board chairman , an appointee of , said the authority selected Holt because of the requirements in the lease.
The state provided the port an additional $269 million under Wolf, bringing the total to more than half a billion dollars. His administration鈥檚 funding helped develop a 155-acre automobile processing center in the Navy Yard known as . And the port authority is developing its first new berth 鈥 a place where ships can stop to transfer cargo 鈥 in 50 years, also at Southport.
From 2015 through 2023, PhilaPort invested $420 million across more than a dozen terminals and facilities, according to data obtained through public records requests. Forty-six percent of that total 鈥 $195 million 鈥 went to the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal. Over this same period of time, Holt paid $29 million in rent to the port 鈥 or 21% of the port鈥檚 $137 million in total rental income.
In other words, while Holt accounted for just one-fifth of the agency鈥檚 rental income, the company鈥檚 terminal received almost half the public capital invested by the port.
What鈥檚 being done here in Philadelphia is not part of the standard operating procedures of a marine terminal operator.
Mike Hellam
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It鈥檚 doubtful, Tri State said in a letter to port leadership, that the lawmakers who established the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority intended for one terminal operator to have access to a 鈥渂ounty of taxpayer-funded capital which allows it to unfairly compete/take business from smaller Pennsylvania-based companies without access to that same bounty.鈥
The vast majority of the state funding was financed through bonds; in 2017, several port initiatives were included in a list of capital projects authorized by the Legislature as eligible for such financing. At the time, Wolf and his administration said the bonds would be repaid by revenue from the port鈥檚 leases, not taxpayers. The port鈥檚 annual rental income has doubled since 2015, from $11 million to $22 million, and the agency hasn鈥檛 relied on state subsidy for operating needs since 2018.
However, the borrowing was financed by general obligation bonds, so the money to cover the debt service actually comes from the state鈥檚 general fund, not directly from lease revenues, according to a spokesperson. That means taxpayers are in fact on the hook, said , senior vice president at the Harrisburg, Pa.-based Commonwealth Foundation, a right-leaning think tank.
Board chairman Pearson 鈥 who鈥檚 also a real estate executive and CEO of Philadelphia nonprofit Public Health Management Corp. 鈥 said the port鈥檚 capital planning was influenced by the 2016 expansion of the Panama Canal in Central America, which has allowed bigger ships to carry more cargo through the waterway that connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
Those newer, larger 鈥淪uper Post-Panamax鈥 ships 鈥 so named because they were designed to fit through the expanded canal 鈥 were 鈥渦nable to navigate beyond the Walt Whitman Bridge,鈥 Pearson said. That restriction 鈥渨as a determining factor in the port鈥檚 planned growth south of the Walt Whitman Bridge.鈥
Improvements to the berth to accommodate new cranes helped 鈥渓everage the capabilities鈥 of the recently completed dredging of the Delaware River to 45 feet, he said. Pennsylvania and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the project.
From 2016 to 2023, container volume increased 82%, Pearson said. He said 60% of all jobs on the port are related to container business, which also accounts for a majority of the $90 million in annual tax revenue generated by the port.
The number of jobs supported by the port increased 25% to 12,100 across its terminals and facilities since 2016, the port has said.
As part of the lease agreement, Holt purchased two Ship-to-Shore container cranes and developed an on-dock inspection facility for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, among other improvements, Pearson said 鈥 private investments that 鈥渉ave totaled tens of millions of dollars.鈥
Political Contributions in Pennsylvania
Holt has worked to cultivate ties to politicians in Harrisburg who help set the state budget. Since 2010, three Holt brothers who are also company executives 鈥 Leo, Thomas Jr. and 鈥 have contributed $742,000 to Pennsylvania political committees registered with the Department of State, an Inquirer analysis found. More than half of that went to the three most recent governors 鈥 Democrats Shapiro and Wolf, as well as Republican 鈥 who along with legislative leaders appoint PhilaPort鈥檚 11 board members.
Shapiro鈥檚 transition team was chaired by , chairman emeritus of the law firm Stradley Ronon and a longtime attorney for the Holts.
鈥淗olt has long supported leaders who support the port, and we make no apologies for doing so,鈥 said Kevin Feeley, the company鈥檚 spokesperson, adding that the governor 鈥渋s uniquely positioned to direct policies and investments that impact the port.鈥
One public entity whose board members are mostly appointees of the governors of Pennsylvania and New Jersey recently faced scrutiny over its oversight of a lease with Holt.
Since 1984 the company has held with the for land beneath the Walt Whitman Bridge in connection with Holt鈥檚 wharf and marine terminal operations in Gloucester City.
The bistate agency 鈥 which operates the region鈥檚 bridges 鈥 initially set annual rent at $19,000, or about $57,000 in today鈥檚 dollars. Holt鈥檚 rent was reduced to $1 in 1993 as part of an unrelated agreement. The rental arrangement hasn鈥檛 been updated since, according to a 2022 inspector general鈥檚 report, which recommended negotiating the lease at current market rates.
A DRPA spokesperson told the Inquirer last month that the agency 鈥渋s completing the due diligence work necessary to take action.鈥
Holt鈥檚 spokesperson said a portion of the seven-acre parcel was 鈥渓iterally created by Holt in the 1980s when it built a new wharf at the adjacent Gloucester Marine Terminal, which today employs nearly 1,000 people.鈥
The leases 鈥渨ere negotiated fairly and with full consideration for both sides, including recognition of Holt鈥檚 improvements to the site鈥 as well as use restrictions, the spokesperson said.
$2 Million Contract Loss
Truckers say their frustration is exacerbated by Holt being the beneficiary of the millions of dollars in investment from Harrisburg.
Leading the public criticism of Holt has been Tri State Intermodal, a family-owned company that owns or leases 65 trucks and has 65 employees.
In 2022 Tri State lost a $2 million annual contract with bottled water manufacturer Fiji Water, which switched to Holt鈥檚 brokerage.
Tri State says Holt鈥檚 bid for the Fiji deal was enabled in part by the new state-funded warehouse that was incorporated into Holt鈥檚 lease, because it gave Holt another resource to offer shippers. Bottles of Fiji Water have since been stored at the warehouse. Holt has been in the warehousing business for years; when Tri State had the Fiji contract, it would often take containers to a Holt-operated warehouse in New Jersey.
鈥淲e at Tri State do not fear competition, but currently our business, our livelihoods, and those of many other local trucking companies are in danger of failure due to what we suspect is unfair competition being carried out by the Holt family of companies,鈥 the company wrote to the port board鈥檚 chairman last fall.
During a pre-Christmas meeting of PhilaPort鈥檚 board, Tri State鈥檚 likened Holt to Scrooge, 鈥渂ullying the port community鈥 and 鈥渓everaging his position as port operator to gain more and more power.鈥
Holt says its operations 鈥渞educe customer costs, provide shippers with a series of efficiencies and so improve the competitive position of our port.鈥
Making Philadelphia a more attractive cargo destination 鈥渨orks to everyone鈥檚 benefit, including our nearly 3,000 union employees and their families,鈥 a Holt affiliate said in a January letter to the port.
Tri State鈥檚 demand that Holt exit the trucking business shows that Tri State is only interested in securing profits, not fair competition, Holt said.
The port鈥檚 deputy general counsel, , told Tri State in a December email that the agency takes 鈥渁ll allegations of improper conduct relating to PhilaPort facilities seriously鈥 but that the truckers 鈥渉ave not provided specific information or documentation鈥 demonstrating a violation of the law or breach of Holt鈥檚 lease.

A container ship docked at the Port of Philadelphia. (Charles Mostoller/Bloomberg News)
Holt spokesperson Feeley said Fiji had described 鈥渘umerous problems鈥 with Tri State鈥檚 servicing of the account, including that during the pandemic, Tri State 鈥減rioritized transport of on-dock containers based on which customers were paying the highest rates.鈥 (Tri State disputed that assertion.)
Holt has invested more than $100 million in warehouse space to support increased cargo volume, Feeley said. This gives Holt 鈥渁 decided advantage in competing for cargo,鈥 he said. If other companies choose not to invest in warehouses, he said, 鈥渢hey must live with the consequences of their decisions.鈥
Fiji鈥檚 parent company, The Wonderful Co., declined to say why it switched to Holt鈥檚 brokerage but said it reviews trucking contracts every year. Fiji said it has contracted with Holt for warehousing services for 10 years.
Tri State reached out to the Federal Maritime Commission last year about the Fiji account and other matters. Matthew D. Forst, senior investigator for the FMC鈥檚 , told Tri State in a Feb. 8 email that 鈥渆very aspect鈥 of that information 鈥渋s being reviewed and analyzed and these efforts are ongoing.鈥
Holt said it has been told that 鈥渢he commission is currently in the preliminary phase of its review鈥 and that the company 鈥渨ill cooperate fully.鈥
鈥淲e are patriots. ... We pay our taxes, we鈥檙e very careful. We believe in the rule of law,鈥 Leo Holt said.
FMC spokesperson John DeCrosta said the agency 鈥渄oes not discuss matters related to potential investigations.鈥
Generally, he said, when the Bureau of Enforcement receives an allegation of misconduct, it reviews the information and decides whether to pursue the matter. At that point, it conducts an 鈥渋nitial assessment鈥 to determine whether the allegations are accurate.
If investigators conclude there has been a violation of the law or regulations, they can ask the agency鈥檚 five-member commission to negotiate a settlement with the party involved or seek to initiate a formal proceeding with an administrative law judge 鈥 akin to bringing a lawsuit.
鈥淎sking questions does not convey an assumption of wrongdoing or guilt,鈥 DeCrosta said.
PhilaPort鈥檚 Pearson said the state agency has consistently 鈥渕aintained that the FMC is the proper venue for Tri State to pursue their complaint.鈥
鈥淚t would not be proper for me to provide comment on our tenants and their business relationships,鈥 he said. The port has consulted an outside law firm, Blank Rome, he said.
Gatekeeper to Commerce
Ocean shipping is a key part of the U.S. economy. Maritime vessels carry 70% of U.S. international trade weight, according to federal data. Everything from consumer goods such as TVs and cellphones to energy supplies and raw materials rely on maritime supply chains.
That means marine terminal operators and shipping lines are gatekeepers to commerce 鈥 a fact that Congress recognized in federal law. Under the Shipping Act, those gatekeepers face a higher obligation not to engage in conduct that could undermine competition, according to the , a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit research and advocacy group.
Tri State contends Holt has violated a provision of the Shipping Act that says marine terminal operators may not give 鈥渁ny undue or unreasonable preference or advantage ... with respect to any person.鈥
Tri State points to an April 2022 email from German international shipping company Hapag-Lloyd about the shipping line鈥檚 decision to switch from Tri State to Holt鈥檚 brokerage for transportation from the terminal to a railroad.
鈥淭he main driver is to avoid or mitigate Hapag-Lloyd鈥檚 storage exposure in the port,鈥 the email says, according to a copy shared with the Inquirer. Tri State, in its letter to port leadership last fall, said this shows Holt鈥檚 terminal business is 鈥渕anipulating storage fees鈥 to drive business to its brokerage.
A Hapag-Lloyd spokesperson declined to comment.
Holt鈥檚 spokesperson, Feeley, said the terminal operator does not reduce port fees for clients of Holt鈥檚 brokerage, Holt Cargo Systems.
What distinguishes the brokerage is its emphasis on moving cargo efficiently out of the port, reducing costs for shippers, the company says.
鈥淥ur DNA is to get it moved, and get it moved expeditiously,鈥 Leo Holt said.
He said the notion that the terminal operator gives preference to Holt鈥檚 family of companies 鈥渋s absolute fantasy.鈥
鈥淲e must have the velocity through the port. Guess what happens if we don鈥檛 have the velocity through the port?鈥 he said. 鈥淭he customers can vote.鈥
Tri State isn鈥檛 the only company upset with Holt.
Hellam, the former Evans Delivery recruiter, said he鈥檇 spent months recruiting a customer to the port and thought he had a deal that would result in estimated annual revenue of $750,000. But before a single shipment came, he said, in fall 2022 he learned the customer had switched to Holt.
Hellam declined to name the customer to preserve business relationships, but other sources familiar with the matter identified it as furniture maker Restoration Hardware.
Hellam said the shipper told him the reason behind the switch wasn鈥檛 just a lower rate for trucking services: Holt had also guaranteed that it wouldn鈥檛 charge the shipper for port demurrage, or the time a container spends inside the terminal before it鈥檚 taken to its next destination.
Only the terminal operator can influence such port charges. 鈥淭hat takes out fair market competition,鈥 Hellam said.
What鈥檚 been steady ... is our willingness to invest in our people, our willingness to invest in facilities, and our willingness to bet on the future of the Port of Philadelphia.
Leo Holt
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Holt鈥檚 spokesperson, Feeley, disputed Hellam鈥檚 role in soliciting the business, saying Holt and the shipper, MSC, had recruited Restoration Hardware. 鈥淎t no point did Holt guarantee that it would not charge demurrage,鈥 Feeley said.
Hellam said a different steamship line was involved and that Holt鈥檚 account is 鈥渃ompletely incorrect.鈥
Restoration Hardware said that only its CEO can comment on behalf of the company and that he wasn鈥檛 available.
鈥楴ot a Level Playing Field鈥
Hellam and Tri State say they want the port to intervene, noting that the Packer Avenue lease prohibits the tenant, Holt, from violating federal law.
The port鈥檚 deputy general counsel, Gocial, told Tri State in a December email that the truckers had not provided evidence that Fiji鈥檚 switch to Holt鈥檚 brokerage 鈥渨as due to preferential treatment rather than legitimate business concerns.鈥 He declined Tri State鈥檚 request for a meeting but wrote that port leadership was willing to review documents that may substantiate its allegations.
It remains to be seen whether the Federal Maritime Commission will take action. Tri State could also file a complaint with an administrative court housed in the FMC. The truckers say lawyers have told them it would cost more than $2 million to litigate.
Tri State鈥檚 John Henkel said he worries PhilaPort has effectively ceded control of the port to its longtime tenant.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a level playing field,鈥 he said.
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Two other trucking companies who asked not to be named said they鈥檇 lost business to Holt鈥檚 brokerage.
Avanzato, the import/export executive and a Tri State customer himself, said it makes sense for Holt to direct terminal traffic to the CSX railroad nearby, in order to keep containers moving efficiently.
Beyond that, he said, 鈥渢he concern from the trucking community is: Where does it end?鈥
, professor of marketing in the Coggin College of Business at the University of North Florida and a fellow at the American Antitrust Institute, said consolidation has increased 鈥渁t every level of the supply chain鈥 across the U.S. and globally.
To assess whether alleged anticompetitive conduct is unlawful, Gundlach said, regulators and courts focus on whether 鈥渃onsumers have been harmed 鈥 through either higher prices, lower quality, or less innovation.鈥
Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Aseem Shukla contributed to this article.
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