Two barges delivering a total 21,000 tons of salt to the City of Philadelphia is stuck in the Delaware River due to ice, the Office of Emergency Management Director Dominick Mireles confirmed to NBC10.
The ships were supposed to drop off the supplies in Fairless Hills, but it is surrounded by ice.
NBC10 was at the port area on Wednesday, Feb. 4 to find large chunks of ice in the water.
SkyForce10 was also over the Delaware River near Bucks County on Wednesday night to find large chunks of ice in the water.
Philadelphia currently has 15,000 tons of salt on hand, Mireles said.
City officials said they order a new shipment of salt after every winter storm.
“We have about 15,000 tons in reserve right now,” said Carlton Williams, of the Philadelphia Office of Clean and Green Initiative. “So we are looking to refill. So that’s why this barge issue is so important. That’s why we are monitoring it as well as our vendor.”
One of the barges carrying 15,000 tons of salt was rerouted to Paulsboro, New Jersey, where it will be unloaded before it gets trucked to Philadelphia on Thursday, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office said.
A second barge that has about 6,000 tons of salt for the city is trying to move northbound along the river, officials said.
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, there are several ships stuck in the Delaware River due to the waterway freezing over.
Coast Guard crews are currently using ice breakers to try to break up the ice and free the ships that are stuck.
This is a developing story, NBC10’s Johnny Archer is working to learn more.