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Port Authority Of New York And New Jersey News

02 Nov 2023

NYC Exploring Ways to Move More Freight Via Waterways

© batman6794 / Adobe Stock

New York City is looking at ways to help shift freight transportation off of its busy roads and onto the waterways.The city's Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) and Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) on Wednesday jointly released a Request for Information and Expressions of Interest (RFEI) seeking private sector feedback to help it gauge industry challenges and opportunities, and explore ways to implement and support businesses to engage in waterfront freight operations.The initiative is part of NYC's "Blue Highways" program, launched under the city's previous mayor, Bill de Blasio.

12 Jul 2023

Ship Fire at Port Newark Extinguished

U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Zeita Merchant, the captain of the port and federal on-scene coordinator, addresses in front of the Grande Costa D’Avorio in Port Newark, New Jersey, July 11, 2023. (U.S Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Mikaela McGee)

The Unified Command consisting of the U.S. Coast Guard, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Newark Fire Department, and Gallagher Marine Systems has successfully concluded shipboard fire response operations at Port Newark and is transitioning to the investigation and salvage operations.The Grimaldi cargo vessel Grande Costa D’Avorio caught fire Wednesday night around 9:30PM at the Port of Newark, an incident in which two firefighters died Thursday. As of the morning of July 11…

10 Jul 2023

Coast Guard and Local Authorities Join Forces in Response to Port Newark Vessel Fire

The Coast Guard, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Newark Fire Department, and multiple state and area agencies respond to a fire in Port Newark on the vehicle carrier ship, Grande Costa D’Avorio. Fire fighting crews are working to extinguish the fire both from the pier and from FDNY fireboats. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Dan Henry)

A Unified Command has been established to continue response to the fire aboard Grimaldi cargo vessel Grande Costa D’Avorio, which caught fire Wednesday night around 9:30 PM at the Port of Newark, an incident in which two firefighters died Thursday.The U.S. Coast Guard, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Newark Fire Department, and Gallagher Marine Systems (as representative of the ship operator) have established a Unified Command in Port Newark, supported by a host of federal…

12 Apr 2022

Beth Rooney Named Director of Port of New York and New Jersey

Beth Rooney (Photo: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey)

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced Beth Rooney has been named Director of the Port Department, taking over for Sam Ruda who is departing to return to the West Coast.A maritime industry veteran, Rooney will assume the role on May 2 following three years as the ports Deputy Director and more than three decades of experience. She has been with the Port Department since 1993.Together, Ruda and Rooney have led the East Coast’s busiest and largest seaport, and third in the nation behind the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach.

15 Jun 2020

MARAD Awards $9.5 Mln for Marine Highways Projects

© trongnguyen / Adobe Stock

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) awarded $9.5 million in grants to eight marine highways projects across the Nation under the America’s Marine Highway Program. The funding supports the enhancement of navigable waterways and expands existing waterborne freight services in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington and American Samoa.“This Federal assistance will provide additional options to reduce congestion on the roads and help the surrounding local communities’ and the regions’ economic recovery…

09 Mar 2020

NY/NJ Port Head Tests Positive for Coronavirus

Rick Cotton (Photo: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey)

Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday.The Port Authority, which oversees both states' seaports as well as airports and other major travel hubs, said in a statement that Cotton is currently asymptomatic and has self-quarantined at his home while maintaining a full work schedule.Staff members who have had close contact with Cotton in recent…

11 Oct 2019

SHORTSEA SHIPPING: All the Right Moves (Finally)

The Baton Rouge-NOLA container on barge service / (CREDIT: Port of New Orleans)

Marine Highways Gain Traction in the Intermodal Supply Chain.In the United States, landside infrastructure is at a crisis point. Congestion at the big hub ports, exacerbated by imperfect intermodal interfaces with surface transport serving cargo hinterlands is at the heart of the matter. As politicians bicker over a possible infrastructure package, the Highway Trust Fund, funded by taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, has continued its downward journey towards further deficits (now $144 billion). And, where countless U.S.

13 Jan 2019

NY-NJ Port to be First to Use Electric Straddle Carrier in the US

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will conduct the first test at a U.S. port of an electric vehicle to move cargo containers by the end of this year.According to a press release from the port authority, this initiative is to meet aggressive targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions set forth in the Paris Climate Agreement.A straddle carrier is a piece of terminal yard handling equipment that is used to move cargo containers by first straddling the container and then lifting it up and driving over the back of a truck to place the container on the chassis, in contrast to loading a container on the back of a truck from the side.Under a partnership with the Port Authority…

09 Aug 2018

MarAd Awards $4.8 Mln for Marine Highway Projects

(Photo: Port of Baton Rouge)

Nearly $5 million in grant funding awarded this week will help enhance existing marine highways serving ports in Louisiana, Virginia, New York and Connecticut, and support the development of new container-on-barge services in Kentucky and Rhode Island.On Wednesday, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced $4,872,000 in grants for six projects through the Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) Marine Highway program, works with public and private stakeholders to support the expanded use of navigable waterways to relieve landside congestion…

10 Nov 2017

Metal Trades Delivers Construction Barge

Photo courtesy of Metal Trades

Shipbuilder and Heavy Steel Fabricator Metal Trades, Inc., located on Yonges Island, SC has announced the launch of its largest ever built new construction barge. This barge is 370’ x 59’ x 14’. It is designed to hold a total of 18- 60 foot rail cars capable of carrying cargo for up to 2298 Long Tons for New York New Jersey Rail, LLC (NYNJR), a short line railroad and wholly-owned entity of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Metal Trades, Inc. is contracted to build a total of two of these barges and the first of these barges is to be delivered next week.

26 Oct 2016

US Awards $4.85 Mln for Waterways Projects

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced $4.85 million in grants to six Marine Highway projects along the waterways of 17 states and the District of Columbia. The goal of the Maritime Administration’s Marine Highway Program is to expand the use of U.S. navigable waterways to relieve landside congestion, reduce air emissions and generate other public benefits by increasing the efficiency of the surface transportation system. “These grants will help us take advantage of the economic and environmental benefits of one of America’s most crucial transportation assets – our coastal and inland waterways,” Foxx said. The grants will help expand existing marine highway operations across New York Harbor…

09 Sep 2016

Port of NY/NJ Deepened for Larger Box Ships

Image: Port of New York & New Jersey

The Port of New York & New Jersey, in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has completed a $2.1 billion Main Navigation Channel Deepening Program in order to facilitate the next generation of larger containerships calling the port following the expansion of the Panama Canal. The Port of New York and New Jersey serves as the gateway to one of the most concentrated and affluent consumer markets in the world. The Main Navigation Channel Deepening Program creates a safe…

31 Aug 2016

APM Terminals to invest $70 mln in Port Elizabeth Terminal

The Port of New York and New Jersey is the largest port on the US East Coast and third largest in the United States with 6.37 million TEU handled in 2015. In 2014, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey committed to a ten year, agency-wide capital investment campaign for transportation infrastructure. Over USD 200 billion in cargo value moves through the port that serves one of the most attractive consumer markets in the United States with a population of 20 million located within three hours of the port. APM Terminals’ Port Elizabeth facility is one of the largest container terminals in the port complex, handling over 2,100 trucks a day, 4000 terminal gate transactions and more than 500 vessel calls per year.

19 Jul 2016

Foxx Names New Members to Maritime Industry Advisory Panel

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced the appointment of 29 new members to the Marine Transportation System National Advisory Committee (MTSNAC). Established in 2010, MTSNAC is comprised of leaders from commercial transportation firms, ship construction, repair and recycling, trade associations, state and local public entities, labor organizations, academics, and environmental groups that advise the Secretary and the Maritime Administration on policies to ensure that the U.S. Marine Transportation System is capable of responding to projected trade increases. The Committee advises the Secretary on solutions to impediments hindering effective use of short sea transportation and other matters as the Secretary determines.

07 Jul 2016

FAST Act Grant Awards Announced

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has announced 18 proposed grant awards for projects under the Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects Program. The program, also known as the Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term Achievement of National Efficiencies (FASTLANE) grants, is a new competitive grant program established under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act to provide funding for nationally significant highway, bridge, and freight projects. The FASTLANE program requires DOT to notify the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee at least 60 days before a grant is awarded for a project.

11 Jun 2016

Port of NY & NJ to Handle Larger Vessels

Port of New York and New Jersey will be able to handle 14,000 TEU vessels toward the end of 2017, says officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The planned completion of the 50-foot Harbor Deepening Project later this summer and the anticipated completion of the navigational clearance project at the Bayonne Bridge late next year were cited as proof that the port will find itself prepared to handle new, larger classes of cargo ships within its previously stated time frame. U.S. East Coast ports have spent billions of dollars in the last decade preparing for the large neo-Panamax ships that will transit the Panama Canal’s new locks when they open to commercial traffic, says a report in JoC.

29 Jan 2016

New York Area Ports Shut Down after Dock Workers Walk Out

Photo: Maher Terminals

New York and New Jersey's cargo terminals shut down on Friday after more than a thousand longshoremen walked off the job, shuttering one of the country's busiest port networks. The employees stopped working around 11 a.m. (1600 GMT). It was not immediately clear what had prompted the walkout. "To run a picket you need a permit and there wasn't one issued by the Port Authority," said one Port Authority official who requested anonymity. The walkout came as a surprise because "there were no major issues that we knew of to precipitate this…

30 Nov 2015

NY/NJ Port Authority Sees Debt Issuance of $1.2 bln in 2016

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey sees consolidated debt issuance of $1.2 bln in 2016 compared with $1.5 bln this year, according to its $7.9 billion 2016 budget released on Monday. Although next year's debt issuance represents a decline from this year, the Port Authority has access to an additional $1.2 billion from the unspent proceeds of previous bond issuance. The issuance figure does not include refunding. With refunding the actual amount of debt issued in 2015 was $3.3 billion, the Port Authority said. A total of $3.5 billion of the 2016 budget will fund capital spending, a decrease of 3.4 percent compared with 2015. Operating expenses are seen rising 2.8 percent to just over $3 billion.

03 Oct 2015

New Jersey Transportation Chief to Resign

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Friday said his transportation commissioner Jamie Fox would step down by the end of the month to return to the private sector after only a year in the position. Fox was previously a lobbyist with airline company United Continental Holdings Inc. before Christie tapped him to be transportation czar in September 2014. Federal authorities are conducting a criminal probe into the previous relationship between United, during Fox's tenure there, and David Samson, former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Federal investigators are probing flights that United added between Newark, New Jersey, and Columbia, South Carolina, near Samson's vacation home.

29 Jul 2015

Redesigned LaGuardia Airport to Include Ferry Terminal

Rendering shows plans for LaGuardia's new Marine Air Terminal site (Image: Governor Cuomo’s office)

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Delta Air Lines are set to overhaul New York’s notoriously outdated and publically criticized LaGuardia Airport, replacing four separate terminals with a single, connected one that will include a ferry terminal. The first phase of the $4 billion construction project, announced Monday by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, is scheduled to break ground in early 2016 pending Port Authority’s approval.

20 Apr 2015

U.S. Ports Expands to be with Panama’s $5 Billion Canal Upgrade

A report in the USA Today says that the U.S. ports are busy deepening harbors and building bigger terminals to draw the bigger ships. Across the USA, public ports and their private sector partners will spend more than $46 billion in port-related improvements through 2016, according to the American Association of Port Authorities. States are seeking to spend billions of dollars to build bigger ports to accommodate the massive ships that will soon be traveling through the canal. The Panama Canal expansion has sparked the competitive imagination of East Coast and Gulf Coast (EC/GC) port authorities, who hope to capture some of the 70% of U.S. imports currently controlled by West Coast (WC) ports.

03 Feb 2015

Port of New York/New Jersey Reports Cargo Record

Photo: Maher Terminals

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced that annual cargo volumes in the port set a new record in 2014, surpassing the previous record set in 2012. The port said it handled 3,342,286 cargo containers in 2014, an increase of 5.4 percent over the previous year and 4.1 percent more than in 2012, when the previous annual record was established. The record volumes allowed the port to maintain its position as the busiest on the East Coast with nearly 30 percent of the total market share, the port authority noted.

20 Jan 2015

Innovative Financing Increases Infrastructure Unvestment

Photo: U.S. Dept. of Transportation

Last July, President Obama announced the Build America Investment Initiative, an Administration-wide effort aimed at boosting private investment in our nation’s infrastructure. And Friday, Vice President Biden announced new steps that federal agencies are taking to bring private sector capital and expertise to bear on improving our nation’s roads, bridges and broadband networks. These actions and announcements are the first steps that the Administration is taking as part of the Build America Investment Initiative’s two-year action plan. These steps highlight important progress within DOT.

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