The N.J. container terminal last week celebrated a milestone in its modernization plan.
Port Newark Container Terminal’s $500 million, 20-year expansion program will address vessel bunching, and dense loading and discharge, associated with ultra-large container vessels, which will improve truck turn times and cargo flows, Jim Pelliccio, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said in an interview Thursday.
The Port of New York/New Jersey has been plagued by congestion in its container yards for the past year. Terminals have struggled with labor and chassis shortages, as well as a crippling winter, while at the same time, carriers have deployed larger vessels through the Suez Canal.
Vessels in the 9,000-TEU range require the transfer of 5,000 to 6,000 containers per port call, double the number involved with typical post-Panamax ships. Maritime industry officials expect 14,000-TEU vessels to enter the port in the second half of 2016 after the Bayonne Bridge is raised to increase clearance for bigger ships.
PNCT’s gates have been more fluid than most, with an average pedestal-to-pedestal trip of 48 minutes for single-move transactions, but Pelliccio said new processes and infrastructure will get drayage drivers in and out of the property even faster.
“I’m confident our turn times are above market level, but they are still unacceptable to us. We think we can get to the 35-minute range. That’s our goal, and we won’t be satisfied until we do that,” he told American Shipper after a colorful ceremony to dedicate new ship-to-shore cranes and accept a $14.8 million federal TIGER grant from U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
In worst cases, shuttle truck drivers may wait up to 90 minutes to drop or pick up a load, but delays are communicated in advance to the drayage companies, Pelliccio said.
The marine terminal averages 2,600 gate transactions per day. Turn times for trucks dropping and picking up a container are about 60 minutes.
“Customer service is huge for us. I certainly have a tremendous amount of empathy for the truckers who are suffering, and our people understand that. We’re addressing it,” he stressed.
Service levels once a drayage driver checks in tend to be relatively good, but there often are extensive queues to get to the gate because the facility meters traffic to minimize congestion inside the fence, Jeff Bader, president of the Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers and head of Golden Carriers, said.
It takes about 60 minutes to 70 minutes to collect an import box, but the line to get in can be two or three hours, he said.
Hector Alvarez, an independent trucker who helps manage a Facebook page for port drivers, said a two-hour turn time is considered good at PNCT. “And that’s not counting the time outside” the gate, he said. Alvarez blamed part of the congestion on the terminal layout, which should be improved with investments to reconfigure the property.
PNCT is a joint venture between Ports America, the largest terminal operator and stevedore in the United States, and Terminal Investment Ltd., a company closely affiliated with Mediterranean Shipping Co. In 2011, PNCT secured a 20-year option extension of its lease agreement with the port authority through 2050.
Since early 2011, PNCT has invested more than $140 million, resulting in the replacement of more than 80 percent of its container-handling equipment, technology advancements and the addition of 32 acres of container storage space.
The three new, dual-lift super post-Panamax cranes are expected to be commissioned, and start loading and unloading container vessels, at the end of October.
By the time the third development phase is completed in 2017 or 2018, PNCT will have a 300-acre footprint and the ability to handle 1.4 million lifts per year, or more than 2 million TEUs. The complex today is 259 acres, including off-dock storage and rail facilities, and processes more than 600,000 TEUs on its way to an interim capacity of 1.7 million TEUs.
The terminal operator is now swinging into the $54 million second development phase that will allow it to handle 10,000 TEU and larger vessels in the near future. The TIGER grant accelerated by several years PNCT’s ability to start construction, according to Pelliccio.
Within 90 days, demolition will begin on several antiquated warehouses to expand the terminal’s container yard capacity by another 34 acres. It will also make way for more modern truck gates outfitted with RFID readers to track vehicles, optical character recognition cameras to identify containers, and weigh-in-motion scales, according to company officials. The new traffic scheme will eliminate two-way traffic and intersections, with everything flowing in one direction.
Old buildings have already been knocked down on another 21-acre section outside the gate that next year will become a depot for empty containers and chassis, freeing up on-dock space for loaded boxes. In both cases, the under-utilized, port authority land was added to PNCT’s footprint.
PNCT is also in the process of adding 150 more electric plug-in stations for refrigerated containers, bringing the total number of reefer positions to 528. The company currently uses portable generators during peak season to accommodate any extra volumes, a company official said.
Phase Two-construction is expected to be finished in the summer of 2016.
The Port Authority of New York/New Jersey is also expanding PNCT’s dedicated ExpressRail facility from two loading tracks to four. The additional 5,000 feet of track will give PNCT the ability to lift 250,000 intermodal boxes per year, up from 100,000, and add access for Norfolk Southern. CSX currently is the only railroad serving the facility. Work is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The port authority recently connected the intermodal container transfer facility to the terminal with a $26.4 million flyover which has greatly sped up rail transfers because hostler drivers don’t have to drive on public roads and sit at a traffic light to get there. Efficiency has also been increased by the addition of three rubber-tired gantry cranes that replaced reach stackers. The container yard has an expanded transfer area for rail cargo, as well as optical character recognition cameras and radiation portal monitors for Customs security checks near the flyover entrance. Rail throughput has increased 20 percent since the flyover was completed late last year.
In total, the port authority is investing up to $100 million in improvements for the PNCT facility.
The final phase of PNCT’s modernization includes strengthening and deepening the fourth 1,200-foot berth to 50 feet deep. By 2017, the terminal will also have nine more cranes that can reach 22 rows across a vessel.