Port Should Unload Brooklyn Marine Terminals
A new report from the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) suggests that the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey sell its two marine terminals in Brooklyn, both of which are hemorrhaging money, to a housing developer in order to raise cash.
The Red Hook Container Terminal and the Brooklyn-Port Authority Marine Terminal have a long history of running deficits and no prospect of making money in the near future. Greater efficiencies must, therefore, be explored, according to CBC president Carol Kellerman.
Annual deficits at the marine terminals are expected to hit $107 million in 15 years, the report said. The Brooklyn-Port Authority Marine Terminal in Cobble Hill lost more than $205,000 per acre last year. The Red Hook Container Terminal lost nearly $185,000 per acre. Closing the terminals would net the Port Authority yearly savings of $29 million by 2029, CBC said.
The commission recommended that the ports be redeveloped as housing. The median sale price of single-family homes, condominiums and co-ops nearly hit a record last year, at $590,000.
The Port Authority should also support efforts by shippers to negotiate cuts to the number of longshoremen who load and unload ships and royalties they pay to their union, according to the business-backed watchdog group.
The operations of the 94-year-old Port Authority of New York & New Jersey have come under increasing scrutiny since allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, closed lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013, causing four days of gridlock in a town whose Democratic mayor hadn't endorsed the governor for re-election.