A February 2, 2004 announcement by Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter that $40 million in federal funding would be made available to the FastShip project has revitalized the milestone development. As a strategic partner in the FastShip project, Urban Engineers, Inc. is responsible for the design engineering of the civil, site and marine aspects to support the container handling equipment in the $120 million Philadelphia intermodal terminal.

FastShip will combine a new generation of high-speed vessels with high-speed dedicated terminals to provide seven-day, door-to-door service between Europe and the United States. Utilizing a patented technology in ship hull design and propulsion systems, the FastShip vessels will cross the Atlantic Ocean in less than four days.

The unique design of the terminal will permit intake and preloading of cargo for an entire vessel prior to vessel arrival. All cargo arriving on a vessel can be offloaded and processed out of the terminal within fourteen hours of the arrival of the vessel.

The facility will be built at the former Publicker Industries distillery site on the Delaware River, just north of the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal.