Port reaps new business after Frankford chemical plant sale

After Sunoco Inc. sold its Frankford chemical plant to Honeywell International Inc. last year and cut back shipments of key raw materials, Honeywell lined up alternative suppliers in the Gulf of Mexico to bring thousands of tons of a critical industrial chemical for making nylon into the Tioga Marine Terminal in Port Richmond. That has meant a big gain for the Philadelphia port — an additional 300,000 to 400,000 tons of liquid bulk cargo bound for the Honeywell plant will arrive this year, bringing the total of such cargo to “well over one million tons,” said Robert Blackburn, the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority’s senior deputy executive director.