Tuesday, November 6, 2012

New York-New Jersey Port Terminals Reopen


All marine container terminals at Port of New York-New Jersey have now reopened or are close to reopening after having been closed for days due to damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.

The Port Newark Container Terminal and the Global Terminal opened their gates at 7 am for truckers on the morning of Nov. 5 and welcomed their first vessels since the hurricane the night of Nov. 4.

The Port Elizabeth Terminal reopened the morning of Nov. 4 with the arrival of four vessels at the Maher Terminals facility and another at APM Terminals’ container terminal. Longshoremen were back to work and unloading cargo at about 8 am Sunday, according to a Port Authority of New York-New Jersey news release.

Also on Nov. 5, the Red Hook Container Terminal in Brooklyn received its first cargo vessel since the storm. The New York Container Terminal on Staten Island has now also reopened, with the first ship scheduled to arrive the night of Nov. 6. Four additional vessels are also scheduled to arrive at the terminal this week, according to the Port Authority.

With the port’s closure, ships had been forced to either idle offshore or leave for other destinations on the US East Coast or elsewhere.

Although the hurricane led to the closings of numerous ports along the Eastern seaboard, including facilities in Maine, Connecticut, Virginia and Maryland, most of those reopened in the day or two following the storm. New York-New Jersey, which is near where the hurricane struck hardest, was surged by nearly four feet of water and was without power for days.

NY-NJ is the third busiest port in the US, after Los Angeles and Long Beach. In 2011, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey handled a record 5.5 million 20-foot equivalent units worth more than $185 billion.