The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has unveiled a 70-page master plan that seeks “to maximize and diversify land use, unlock freight network capacity, and identify innovative revenue opportunities across its marine facilities” for the next 30 years.
The Port of New York and New Jersey handled 3,041,814 TEUs, or 20-foot equivalent units, marking an all-time record at the seaport. Activity in May, totaling 643,706 TEUs, yielded a monthly record and marked a notable year-over-year increase of 8.4 percent. It is more than the 3,008,468 TEUs handled at the Port of Long Beach, long the nation’s second-largest port after the Port of Los Angeles, in the same time period.
Container demand at port authority facilities is projected to increase from 7.2 million TEUs in 2018 to between 12 million and 17 million TEUs by 2050.
During the next 10 to 15 years, the port will focus on maximizing past investments such as the deepening of the harbor and raising of the Bayonne Bridge so that larger ships can pass beneath it.
Today, 75 percent to 80 percent of the port’s container traffic moves through the container terminals in Newark and Elizabeth, N.J., and around 10 percent moves through the Global Container Terminals facility at Howland Hook, which is located on Staten Island, N.Y. Those terminals are all west of the narrow waterway called the Kill Van Kull. Another 15 percent or so moves to terminals east of Kill Van Kull — about 10 percent to the Global Container Terminal in Bayonne and less than 5 percent to Brooklyn, N.Y.
The new 30-year plan follows an extensive 2½ year review of more than 3,000 acres of port property and included more than 45 presentations to regional stakeholders and community groups, including more than 50 planning workshops, and interaction with nearly 500 stakeholders. The document takes a holistic look at the port, including cargo container facilities, automobile terminals, dry and liquid bulk cargo operations, cruise terminals, and ferry landings. It will build on earlier planning work in the 1990s that ultimately led to the deepening of port channels to 50 feet, the raising of the Bayonne Bridge, container terminal expansions, realignment of and capacity enhancements to port roadways and the completion of the port’s $600 million ExpressRail network.
The port master plan focuses on five guiding principles:
- Ensuring sustainability and resiliency in all operations and future developments
- Promoting regional economic generation
- Establishing state-of-the-art facilities
- Providing a platform for partnership for all local stakeholders
- Shaping future growth of the region
