Wilmington’s port expanded its capability across the board in 2016.

This summer the turning basin project, which included the removal of an existing bulk pier and dredging along the Cape Fear River, was finished which expanded the basin from 1,200 feet to 1,400 feet. That means ships upwards of 1,150 feet in length, 158 feet in width and 42 feet in depth can call on the port.

With larger ships than ever crossing through the Panama Canal, Wilmington needed the expansion to stay competitive with other ports on the East Coast.

In September, the Evergreen Ever Laden, at a capacity of about 8,500 TEUs, became the largest ship to ever call the Port of Wilmington.

It’s all part of the N.C. Ports’ ongoing infrastructure investment plan, allowing Wilmington to host the larger post-Panamax vessels.

“I think we’ve moved beyond the era when we simply wish for an easy solution to turning the Port of Wilmington into a Norfolk or a Charleston overnight,” Scott Satterfield, CEO of Wilmington Business Development, said earlier this year.

In August, a new cold storage facility opened its doors at the port.

Port of Wilmington Cold Storage offers 101,000 square feet of cold storage, aimed at the needs of large and small-scale exporters.

It will be used primarily to house poultry, pork, fish and vegetables from producers across the state.

In July new intermodal rail service between the Port of Wilmington and the railroad’s terminal in Charlotte was announced.

“The introduction of this new service,” Gov. Pat McCrory said about the Queen City Express in a news release, “will facilitate the efficient, cost-effective movement of goods between the global marketplace and one of the most significant economic centers in the southeastern United States.”

In addition, CSX will eventually provide direct access from the Port of Wilmington to the Carolina Connector intermodal terminal in Edgecombe County, a facility that is expected to create 1,500 jobs throughout North Carolina.

Also in 2016 those towering domes between the river and the Sunset Park neighborhood were completed.

The Enviva storage domes, which are packed with wood pellets ready for export to Europe, are scheduled to begin shipping contents before the end of the year. The waste wood product will end up as fuel for large municipal boilers across much of Europe.

And the brief vacancy caused by the recent collapse of Hanjin Shipping Co. at the Port of Wilmington was shored up.

In October, the N.C. State Ports Authority inked a new partnership with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Maersk Line with the addition of the all-water Asia- U.S. East Coast container service.