Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal

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Not to be confused with Port Elizabeth, New Jersey
The port facility is shown highlighted, with the conventional route of ships entering Newark Bay via The Narrows and Kill Van Kull between Bayonne, New Jersey and Staten Island, New York.
Container port facilities at Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, seen from Bayonne
Part of the A.P. Moller Container terminal at Port Elizabeth.

Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal is a major component of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Located on the Newark Bay it serves as the principal container ship facility for goods entering and leaving New York-Newark metropolitan area, and the northeastern quadrant of North America. It consists of two components – Port Newark and the Elizabeth Marine Terminal (sometimes called "Port Newark" and "Port Elizabeth" respectively) – which exist side-by-side and are run conjointly by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The facility is located within the boundaries of the two cities of Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, just east of the New Jersey Turnpike and Newark Liberty International Airport.

Contents

Operations [edit]

The Port is the 22nd-busiest in the world today, but was number one as recently as 1985.[1] It remains the largest container port in the eastern United States and the third-largest in the country.

Container goods typically arrive on container ships through the Narrows and the Kill Van Kull before entering Newark Bay, a shallow body of water that is dredged to accommodate the larger ships (some ships enter Newark Bay via the Arthur Kill). The port facility consists of two main dredged slips and multiple loading cranes. Metal containers are stacked in large arrays visible from the New Jersey Turnpike before being loaded onto rail cars and trucks.

In 2009, the major port operators at Port Newark-Elizabeth included Maher terminals, APM terminal (A. P. Moller-Maersk), and PNCT (Port Newark Container terminal).

Since 1998, the Port has seen a 65 percent increase in traffic.[citation needed] In 2003, the Port moved over $100 billion in goods.[citation needed] In 2006, it handled more than 20% of total U.S. imports from Germany, more than any other U.S. port.[2]

Planned improvements [edit]

Plans are underway for billions of dollars in improvements, including larger cranes, bigger railyard facilities, deeper channels, and expanded wharves. New longshoremen are being hired as well.[citation needed]

The height of ships serving the port is limited by the Bayonne Bridge over Kill Van Kull, a limitation that will become more serious when the Panama Canal expansion project opens in 2014, allowing bigger ships to reach the port from Asia. The Port Authority recently announced plans to increase the height of the Bayonne Bridge's roadway to 215 feet, which will solve the problem. The project is expected to cost around $1 billion.[3]

History [edit]

The western edge of Newark Bay was originally shallow tidal wetlands covering approximately 12 square miles (31 km2). In 1910s the City of Newark began excavating an angled shipping channel in the northeastern quadrant of the wetland which formed the basis of Port Newark.[4][5] Work on the channel and terminal facilities on its north side accelerated during World War I, when the federal government took control of Port Newark. During the war there were close to 25,000 troops stationed at the Newark Bay Shipyard.[6]

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was formed in 1921 [7] and the Newark Bay Channels were authorized by the Rivers and Harbors Acts in 1922. Shipping operations languished after the war, and in 1927, the City of Newark started construction of Newark Airport (now known as Newark Liberty International Airport) on the northwest quadrant of the wetlands which lay between Port Newark and the edge of the developed city. Port Authority took over the operations of Port Newark and Newark Airport in 1948 and began modernizing and expanding both facilities southward.

The SS Ideal X, considered the first container ship, made her maiden voyage on April 26, 1956[8] carrying 58 containers from Port Newark to the Port of Houston.[9] Sea-Land Service expanded its operations into the newly developed container terminal.

In 1958, the Port Authority dredged another shipping channel which straightened the course of Bound Brook, the tidal inlet forming the boundary between Newark and Elizabeth. Dredged materials was used to create new upland south of the new Elizabeth Channel, where the Port Authority constructed the Elizabeth Marine Terminal. The first shipping facility to open upon the Elizabeth Channel was the new 90-acre (36 ha) Sea-Land Container Terminal, which was the prototype for virtually every other container terminal constructed thereafter.[10]

The building of the port facility antiquated most of the traditional waterfront port facilities in New York Harbor, leading to a steep decline in such areas as Manhattan, Hoboken, and Brooklyn. The automated nature of the facility requires far fewer workers and does not require the opening of containers before onward shipping.

In 2011 PANYNJ restructured the lease of major tenant, Port Newark Container Terminal (PNCT). The agreement calls for a 20-year extension of PNCT's existing lease through 2050, subject to PNCT's investment of the $500 million and an expansion from 180 to about 287 acres to accommodate the additional volume. It is expected to generate an annual increase in container volume from Mediterranean Shipping Company, the world's second-largest shipping company from 414,000 to 1.1 million containers by 2030.[11][12] The deepening of the Kill van Kull, the raising of the Bayonne Bridge, and expansion of rail freight facilities are also elements of plans to accommodate anticipated larger volumes.

The facility is considered to be one of the most high-risk terrorist target sites in the United States. Other such sites in New Jersey include the Holland Tunnel and the PATH station at Exchange Place, both of which are in Jersey City, and the Lincoln Tunnel, which connects nearby Weehawken to Manhattan.[13]

Port of New York and New Jersey facilities [edit]

Other seaport terminals of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey include:

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Lipton, Eric (November 22, 2004). "New York Port Hums Again, With Asian Trade". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-07-20. 
  2. ^ Foreign imports to USA ports, measured in kilograms, from Germany (from 'worldportsource.com'. Accessed 2008-02-14.)
  3. ^ "Bayonne Bridge Navigational Clearance Program". The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Retrieved 16 December 2012. 
  4. ^ "TO MAKE NEWARK BAY A BIG PORT; The Jersey Meadow's Being Transformed Into a Busy Spot, with Docks and Reclaimed Land". The New York Times. 1915-06-27. 
  5. ^ French, Kenneth (February 24, 2002). Images of America:Railroads of Hoboken and Jersey City. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 25–29. ISBN 978-0-7385-0966-2. Retrieved November 21, 2009. 
  6. ^ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/newark-bay.htm
  7. ^ of New York and New Jersey
  8. ^ "The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey - Press Release". 
  9. ^ http://www.panynj.gov/port/history.html
  10. ^ [1]
  11. ^ Strunsky, Steve (June 17, 2011), "Port Newark terminal lease deal to double volume", The Star-Ledger, retrieved 2011--7-28 
  12. ^ Gibson, Ginger (July 27, 2011), "Expansion of Port Newark Container Terminal will spur job growth, Gov. Christie says", The Star-Ledger, retrieved 2011--7-28 
  13. ^ Pope, Gennarose. (February 5, 2012). "Two most dangerous miles in the U.S.". The Union City Reporter.

External links [edit]
Seaports
Airports
Bridges and tunnels
Rail
Bus stations
Other

Coordinates: 40°40′54″N 74°09′02″W / 40.68155°N 74.1505°W / 40.68155; -74.1505

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