Type | Intermodal freight transport facility |
---|---|
Locale | Bayonne & Jersey City New Jersey |
Official name | Port Jersey Port Authority Marine Terminal |
Owner | Port Authority of New York and New Jersey |
Operator | Port Authority of New York and New Jersey New York New Jersey Rail, LLC Conrail Shared Assets Operations Port Liberty Bayonne LLC (CMA-CGM) |
Characteristics | |
Clearance below | 50 feet (15 m) |
History | |
Coordinates | 40°40′16″N74°04′26″W / 40.671°N 74.074°W |
Port Jersey, officially the Port Jersey Port Authority Marine Terminal and referred to as the Port Jersey Marine Terminal, is an intermodal freight transport facility that includes a container terminal located on the Upper New York Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The municipal border of the Hudson County cities of Jersey City and Bayonne runs along the long pier extending into the bay. [1]
The facility was created between 1972 and 1976 and acquired by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in July 2010. [2] [3] CMA CGM operates a post-panamax shipping facility at this terminal under the name Port LibertyBayonne. [4] [5]
Much of Port Jersey is part of United States Foreign-Trade Zone 49. [6] Most of the area in and around the facility is restricted, though a walkway along its northern side is accessible to the general public and may eventually connect with the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway. A very small bird sanctuary (specifically for the least tern) [7] is also located on the promenade.
The area, east of the Greenville section of Jersey City was originally tidal marshes and white cedar swamps, and was first used for industrial purposes beginning in the 1800s.
The pier that become Port Jersey was created in the between 1972 and 1976 using landfill. [8]
The facility was once known as the NorthEast Auto Terminal (NEAT) and was operated as a private auto import and export facility for several decades before its purchase in 2008 by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The location of the PA Auto Marine Terminal and its relatively airdraft-free deepwater access for larger vessels led to the PANYNJ to convert the facility into a container terminal. Anticipating the needs of the planned and existing super-panamax containerships which will call in the port upon the completion of the new Panama Canal Megalocks, NEAT was incrementally shut down and its share of the auto import/export market completely transferred to the Bayonne Auto Terminal and the Port Newark FAPS facility by 2011.
After the PANYNJ purchase, the container terminal facilities were expanded in conjunction with the former operator of the terminal, Global Terminals. [9] [10] [11]
The largest ship ever to call at the Port of New York-New Jersey, the MOL Benefactor, docked at Port Jersey in July 2016 after sailing from China through the newly widened Panama Canal. [12]
Ambrose Channel is the main shipping channel in and out of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Branching canal to the south the Port Jersey Channel separates the pier from the peninsula pier of a former military base, Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne (MOTBY). The a multi-use area is home to the Cape Liberty Cruise Port (one of the New York metropolitan area's three cruise ship terminals), residential and commercial buildings, and land owned by the PANYNJ to be further developed as port facilities. Deepening of the Port Jersey Channel to 50 feet was authorized by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2010. [13] [14] [15] and completed in 2016. [16] To the north lies Claremeont Terminal. [17]
Port Jersey is one of the few areas on the Bergen Neck peninsula where freight rail lines are still in use. [18] [19] [20] In October 2010 the PANYNJ announced plans to develop ExpressRail Port Jersey, allowing for more transfers to trains, and thus reducing transfers to trucks. [21] Trains will use a renovated National Docks Secondary freight line to access the national network, part of the Liberty Freight Corridor. [22] In December 2016, construction began on the $600 million Express Rail facility. The facility features 9,600 feet of track serviced by rail mounted gantry cranes that will have an annual capacity of 250,000 container lifts. Construction was scheduled to be completed by mid-2018. [23] The first phase of the project, with four tracks and two gantry cranes, opened on January 7, 2019. The second and final phase of the project, with four additional tracks bringing the total number of tracks to eight, was opened on June 17, 2019. [24]
Port Jersey is served by New Jersey Route 440 which connects with the Bayonne Bridge to Staten Island. The Port is primarily accessed by Exit 14A of the Newark Bay Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike, which underwent a $172 million reconstruction and expansion in 2018 to ease congestion for truckers and commuters. [25] [26] New Jersey Route 185 connects the facility to Greenville Yard.
In 2010 the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced its intentions to build a five tower wind farm at Port Jersey within three years. [27] [28] The windfarm is part of a larger plan to expand the container port on the manmade peninsula to accommodate post-panamax ships. [29] In May 2012, Global Container Terminals announced detailed plan of the port extension. It included the installation of 9 wind turbines in order to meet a zero emissions footprint of their crane operation during periods of wind power generation. [30] As of mid-2017, this proposal has not seen any meaningful progress.
Port Jersey is the key transload terminal for solid waste from New York City barges to railcars. In 2004, the city announced its plans to minimize haulage of waste by truck. [31] Jersey City benefits from a $10 million initial payment and annual payments of $250,000 for the arrangement. [32] The plan faced opposition initially. [33] In 2010, the plan was approved, with $118 million budgeted by the Port Authority. [34] In 2010, the PANYNJ purchased the yard to begin the project. Waste handling improvement projects have continued in context of other improvements to the Greenville Rail Yard. [35]
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized by the United States Congress. The Port Authority oversees much of the regional transportation infrastructure, including bridges, tunnels, airports, and seaports, within the geographical jurisdiction of the Port of New York and New Jersey. This 1,500-square-mile (3,900 km2) port district is generally encompassed within a 25-mile (40 km) radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. The Port Authority is headquartered at 4 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.
New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay and an extremely small portion of the Lower Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York/New Jersey Bight near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the East Coast of the United States.
The Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) is a 13.8-mile (22.2 km) rapid transit system in the northeastern New Jersey cities of Newark, Harrison, Jersey City, and Hoboken, as well as Lower and Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. PATH trains run around the clock year-round; four routes serving 13 stations operate during the daytime on weekdays, while two routes operate during weekends, late nights, and holidays. It crosses the Hudson River through cast iron tunnels that rest on a bed of silt on the river bottom. It operates as a deep-level subway in Manhattan and the Jersey City/Hoboken riverfront; from Grove Street in Jersey City to Newark, trains run in open cuts, at grade level, and on elevated track. In 2023, the system saw 55,109,100 rides, or about 205,600 per weekday in the third quarter of 2024, making it the fifth-busiest rapid transit system in the United States.
Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, the second busiest in the United States. An estuary, it is periodically dredged to accommodate seafaring ships.
Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal, a major component of the Port of New York and New Jersey, is the principal container ship facility for goods entering and leaving the New York metropolitan area and the northeastern quadrant of North America.
The New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary, also known as the Hudson-Raritan Estuary, is in the northeastern states of New Jersey and New York on the East Coast of the United States. The system of waterways of the Port of New York and New Jersey forms one of the most intricate natural harbors in the world and one of the busiest ports of the United States. The harbor opens onto the New York Bight in the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast and Long Island Sound to the northeast.
The Hudson–Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) is a light rail system in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Owned by New Jersey Transit (NJT) and operated by the 21st Century Rail Corporation, it connects the communities of Bayonne, Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, Union City, at the city line with West New York, and North Bergen.
Newark Liberty International Airport Station is a railroad hub on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in Newark, New Jersey. The station provides access to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) via the AirTrain Newark monorail which connects the station to the airport's terminals and parking areas. The station is served by New Jersey Transit's (NJT) Northeast Corridor Line and North Jersey Coast Line and Amtrak's Northeast Regional and Keystone Service trains.
The Howland Hook Marine Terminal, operating as Port Liberty New York, is a container port facility in the Port of New York and New Jersey located at Howland Hook in northwestern Staten Island, New York City. It is situated on the east side of the Arthur Kill, at the entrance to Newark Bay, just north of the Goethals Bridge and Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge.
New York New Jersey Rail, LLC is a switching and terminal railroad that operates the only car float operation across Upper New York Bay between Jersey City, New Jersey and Brooklyn, New York. Since mid-November 2008, it has been owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which acquired it for about $16 million as a step in a process that might see a Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel completed.
Newark–World Trade Center is a rapid transit service operated by the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH). It is colored red on the PATH service map and trains on this service display red marker lights. This service operates from Pennsylvania Station in Newark, New Jersey, by way of the Downtown Hudson Tubes to the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York. Operating 24 hours a day, the 8.9-mile (14.3 km) trip takes 22+1⁄2 minutes to complete.
The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a 25-mile (40 km) radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
The Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel is a proposed freight rail transport tunnel under Upper New York Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey between northeastern New Jersey and Long Island, including southern and eastern New York City.
Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne (MOTBY) was a U.S. military ocean terminal located in the Port of New York and New Jersey which operated from 1967 to 1999. From 1942 to 1967 the site was the Bayonne Naval Drydock. The site is on Upper New York Bay south of Port Jersey on the eastern side of Bayonne, New Jersey. Since its closure, it has undergone maritime, residential, commercial, and recreational mixed-use development. Part of the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway runs along its perimeter.
Transportation in New Jersey utilizes a combination of road, rail, air, and water modes. New Jersey is situated between Philadelphia and New York City, two major metropolitan centers of the Boston-Washington megalopolis, making it a regional corridor for transportation. As a result, New Jersey's freeways carry high volumes of interstate traffic and products. The main thoroughfare for long distance travel is the New Jersey Turnpike, the nation's fifth-busiest toll road. The Garden State Parkway connects the state's densely populated north to its southern shore region. New Jersey has the 4th smallest area of U.S. states, but its population density of 1,196 persons per sq. mi causes congestion to be a major issue for motorists.
Access to the Region's Core (ARC) was a proposed commuter-rail project to increase passenger service capacity on New Jersey Transit (NJT) between Secaucus Junction in New Jersey and Manhattan in New York City. New infrastructure would have included new trackage, a new rail yard, and a tunnel under the Hudson River. A new station adjacent to New York Penn Station was to be constructed as running more trains into the current station was deemed unfeasible. An estimated budget for the project was $8.7 billion. Construction began in mid-2009 and the project was slated for completion in 2018, but it was cancelled in October 2010 by Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, who cited the possibility of cost overruns and the state's lack of funds. Six hundred million dollars had been spent on the project. The decision remains controversial.
Greenville Yard is a freight rail yard in the Port of New York and New Jersey. It is located on Upper New York Bay in Jersey City, New Jersey, adjacent and north of Port Jersey. Originally developed in 1904 by the Pennsylvania Railroad, it was later taken over by Conrail. It has been owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey since 2010. It takes its name from the former municipality of Greenville, now part of the city.
National Docks Secondary is a freight rail line within Conrail's North Jersey Shared Assets Area in Hudson County, New Jersey, used by CSX Transportation. It provides access for the national rail network to maritime, industrial, and distribution facilities at Port Jersey, the Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne (MOTBY), and Constable Hook as well as carfloat operations at Greenville Yard. The line is an important component in the planned expansion of facilities in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The single track right of way comprises rail beds, viaducts, bridges, and tunnels originally developed at the end of the 19th century by competing railroads.
From the start of railroading in America through the first half of the 20th century, New York City and Long Island were major areas for rail freight transportation. However, their relative isolation from the mainland United States has always posed problems for rail traffic. Numerous factors over the late 20th century have caused further declines in freight rail traffic. Efforts to reverse this trend are ongoing, but have been met with limited success.
ExpressRail is a network of on- or near-dock rail yards supporting intermodal freight transport at the major container terminals of the Port of New York and New Jersey. The development of dockside trackage and rail yards for transloading has been overseen by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which works in partnership with other public and private stakeholders. As of 2019, four ExpressRail facilities were in operation, with a total built capacity of 1.5 million lifts.