Report: APL to switch N.Y.-N.J. terminals

Report: APL to switch N.Y.-N.J. terminals    The liner carrier APL is set to leave the New York Container Terminal next summer, according to a report Friday in the Staten Island Advance and confirmed by the carrier to American Shipper Monday.
   NYCT chief executive Jim Devine said in the report that APL is not renewing its lease at the terminal, which expires in July, due to a need for bigger facilities to accommodate its larger ships.
   APL accounts for more one-third of NYCT's volume. Attempts to expand the terminal for the last four years have had little success, Devine said.
   Another contributing factor, he added, was a planned rise in bridge toll taxes that New York state is proposing.
   'Doing business here, as opposed to in New Jersey, runs an average truck $100 more per trip to Mariners Harbor, depending on the number of axles, which are factored into the toll cost,' Devine told the newspaper.
   He said Turkon Line left NYCT in 2009 over the toll issue.
   The report suggested APL is eyeing a deal with Maher Terminals facility in New Jersey. Both face the issue of lack of air draft due to the height of the Bayonne Bridge. When asked whether it had signed a deal with Maher, APL said it doesn't comment on contracts, but confirmed NYCT's announcement.