Talks stalled again over transfer of Staten Island terminal

Talks stalled again over transfer of Staten Island terminal    Talks between the New York Container Terminal (NYCT) and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey are stalled once again, with an end-of-the-month deadline approaching.
   Jim Devine, chief executive officer of the terminal, said last week that he thought the port authority and his company had a “verbal handshake” on terms necessary to secure permission to transfer a lease on the terminal, which is located in the Howland Hook section of Staten Island, but that the deal then fell apart.
   The owner of his firm, which is also the parent of Orient Overseas Container Line, wants to sell its business and transfer the lease on the terminal to the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund, Devine said.
   Under a deal that he thought was going forward, he said his company had agreed to pay $15 million for terminal improvements and $5 million on local roads and agreed to pay another $30 million in the future.
   “I thought we had a deal, but then we were told it was not enough money,” he said. “Things have broken down and I’m frustrated.”
   Steve Coleman, a port authority spokesman, said that the agency would continue to meet with the terminal to try and reach a resolution over the terms of the lease transfer.
   Devine said he was concerned that the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund might decide not to buy the terminal. The fund has purchased three other marine terminals from OOCL’s parent, including the Global Marine Terminal in Jersey City and two terminals in Vancouver, British Columbia.
   NYCT handled about 327,000 containers last year.
   Whoever ends up owning NYCT will likely have a very good year. Devine expected volumes to be up about 40 percent in 2007 over 2006 levels.
   Recently completed channel and berth dredging allows ships calling at the terminal 41 feet of draft. Devine said that allows ships to sail to the terminal without having to wait for high tides. The biggest ships currently calling at the terminal have capacities of about 4,000 TEUs, but he said the terminal can accommodate vessels carrying 6,000 TEUs.
   About eight carriers offer weekly service to the terminal, and he said the terminal expects to have at least two new services from the Far East in the coming year — a new trans-Suez service from the New World Alliance and a trans-Panama service from the Grand Alliance.
   The terminal is also planning to begin offering on-dock, double-stack rail service in June.