N.Y.-N.J. discusses port’s future

N.Y.-N.J. discusses portÆs future    The Port of New York-New Jersey Port Industry Day conference on Wednesday was a bit celebration and bit self examination.
   The annual event, held this year in a warehouse at the Global Container Terminal in Bayonne, N.J., featured speeches that reminded listeners of both the port’s history and importance as an economic engine for the region.
   It also featured a number of speakers urging the audience not to become complacent about the port’s status as the East Coast's leading container port, and questioning its readiness to handle large ships that will be able to pass through the expanded Panama Canal.

Devine

   Jim Devine, president and chief executive officer of Global Container Terminals USA, reminded participants they were meeting a day after the 185th anniversary of the Oct. 26, 1825 opening of the Erie Canal, the waterway that made New York preeminent over other ports such as Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston.
   Both New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Bill Baroni, first deputy director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, repeated promises that a way would be found to modify or replace the Bayonne Bridge so larger ships would be able to pass beneath it and reach the port’s container terminals in Newark, Elizabeth, and Staten Island. The current bridge only provides 151 to 156 feet of clearance depending on tidal conditions, too low for some large containerships, like those expected to use the expanded Panama Canal.
   Both said New Jersey’s charismatic Gov. Chris Christie has made fixing the bridge his top priority at the port authority and that the agency has committed $1 billion for the project.
   But Devine closed the event by warning “we’re not ready” for the opening of the Panama Canal.
   “We’ve done the deepening and we’ve done some of the other aspects of the infrastructure, but there is still a long way to go. The Bayonne Bridge is perhaps the most notable example of something that needs to be attended to, but the fabric of the port becomes strained. It was strained in 2008 when we had a banner year and I’m concerned we still have infrastructure issues that still need to be addressed,” he said.
   He praised the heavy investment the port authority has made in intermodal rail. Global and the port authority are expanding the terminal from 98 to 170 acres, and last week the port said it will spend $3 million to plan expansion of an adjacent intermodal rail yard.
   But Devine said port roadways and the New Jersey Turnpike need investment.
   While vessels coming to New York may typically offload 1,500 containers and load a similar number, the large ships calling the West Coast “dwarf what we are doing today,” he said. “You bring in a 8,000- or 10,000-TEU vessel and you are doing 6,000 moves on one vessel. The demand on the capacity of the terminal, we have to address that ' I’m very pleased we’ve got some focus on that, but we can’t lose that focus.”
   He said there still needs to be work on off-dock storage of equipment, chassis pools, labor productivity, and environmentally friendly equipment such as hybrid trucks.

Curto

   Joseph Curto, president of the New York Shipping Association, said the port is facing increased competition from other ports for cargo consumed locally and discretionary cargo bound for or originating in locations beyond the port.
   “This competition is real and a threat to our viability and sustainability,” he said.
   Curto said that while terminals in the port compete with each other, they also share common challenges. He pointed to New York State ballast water regulations which he said are 1,000 times more stringent than current international standards; the possibility that federal law might be changed to allow local government to impose a drayage truck concession program similar to that being planned in Los Angeles; and the need to comply with regulations imposed by the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor.
   Curto, whose organization represents employers of longshoremen in the port, said businesses need to ask if they have an adequately sized and properly trained workforce, whether the workforce it too expensive, and is it properly managed. He said labor in the port needs to ask itself if it is being as efficient as it needs to be about productivity and technology, and whether they are dependable and committed to serve the port. Container terminals in the port were shut down for two days in September by a wildcat strike.
   “Each of these challenges bring opportunity, opportunity to challenge ourselves and our port for future growth. If you don’t look critically at yourself and see the vulnerabilities your competition sees you will miss your biggest opportunity to improve,” he said.
   Saying that carriers are considering the size of vessels to be assigned to their East Coast services, he said, “whatever their size we want those vessels here ' We’ve been talking about the expected increase in cargo for years. Now is the time to capture a larger portion of the business.” ' Chris Dupin