PNCT will add fourth berth

PNCT will add fourth berth    The Port Newark Container Terminal will add a fourth berth, which will be deepened to 50 feet and equipped with gantry cranes capable of working with post-Panamax or neo-Panamax containerships.
   Ports America provided additional information about plans at PNCT following last week’s announcement of the terminal’s expansion by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
   Work on expanding the terminal from 180 to 287 acres, is already under way with the addition of about 32 acres and rail yard development, Ports America said.
   “There will be a new gate and administration complex that should further enhance truck flow,” the company said.
   It said new cranes and straddle carriers will be ordered “very shortly,” and Ports America said there will be “more containers storage space, more gantry cranes, expanded rail facility, new shop facilities, a new gate complex and administration building and new container handling equipment.”
   The port authority said it will extend the lease at PNCT from 2030 to 2050 in exchange for a $500 million investment at the facility.
   Mediterranean Shipping Co., the world’s second-largest shipping has agreed to expand throughput at the facility from 414,000 containers to 1.1 million by 2030. MSC accounts for about 80 percent of PNCT’s business, and Port America said it is committed to continuing to serve their business requirements for the long term.
   Terminal Investment Ltd. (TIL), based in the Netherlands, will acquire a half-interest in PNCT from Ports America.
   TIL is awaiting approvals from the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, but TIL has received approval for other ventures in the country. It is an investor in the Ports America development of the Outer Harbor in Oakland and also is a joint venture partner in a Long Beach with SSA.