The terminal operator increased spending from $70 million to $200 million in preparation for ultra large containerships.
APM Terminals (APMT) said Wednesday it has decided to boost spending on its Port Elizabeth terminal at the Port of New York and New Jersey from $70 million to $200 million in preparation for ultra large container ships calling the port.
APMT, like Maersk Line, is a subsidiary of A.P.-Moller Maersk.
APMT is ordering four next-generation ship-to-shore cranes to handle ultra-large containerships at the Port Elizabeth terminal. APMT also said it will expand the terminal’s gate complex to improve speed and safety for truckers moving containers in and out of the terminal, and upgrade container handling equipment to make it safer, more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly.
Looking ahead, APMT said it expects bigger containerships to start calling its terminal both because of the heightening of the Bayonne Bridge, which will allow larger ships to pass beneath it, and because of the new set of locks that the Panama Canal opened last year that allow for the passage of larger ships.
The Bayonne Bridge, linking New Jersey with Staten Island, was originally completed in 1931. Its road deck is being raised from 151 feet to 215 feet above Kill Van Kull, the waterway beneath it. This will allow larger ships to call at New Jersey terminals in Elizabeth (where APMT and Maher Terminals are located), Newark (where the Port Newark Container Terminal is located) and in the Howland Hook section of Staten Island (where the GCT New York terminal is located).
The Bayonne Bridge is being raised by having a second deck built above the existing roadway and then demolishing the lower deck. On Monday, the upper deck opened with a total of two lanes, one in each direction, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the port authority. By 2019, it will open at its full width with four lanes, shoulders and a path for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Coleman told American Shipper that demolition of the lower deck will begin in the coming weeks. He said that while a definitive timetable is not yet available, “we are still on track for providing navigational clearance later this year.”
APMT’s decision to increase its investment in the Elizabeth terminal is all the more interesting, since as recently as 2014, it had entered into a tentative agreement to sell a half interest in the facility to Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management terminals. That deal, however, fell through.
APMT said it is “being very selective and disciplined about the projects for which to invest; these projects complement already committed investments being made at the berth to ensure the most value is harnessed from this strategic location over the long term.”
“Our goal is to make APM Terminals Port Elizabeth safer, easier to use and faster for our trucker community, more productive for our shipping line clients and more reliable for our clients’ supply chains expectations,” said Wim Lagaay, president of APMT North America. “These operational and infrastructure improvements are designed to keep APM Terminals Port Elizabeth at the forefront of the New York/New Jersey harbor by being the container terminal of choice to work with by our many clients and partners.”
The A.P. Moller-Maersk annual report published earlier this month said, “APM Terminals has shifted focus from investment lead growth to cost leadership and asset utilization. The ongoing consolidation in the shipping industry through mergers, acquisitions and re-alignment of alliances requires APM Terminals to rethink the commercial approach.
“As a response, working together with Maersk Line in the Transport & Logistics division will not only increase utilization, but also allow Maersk Line to improve network efficiency based on APM Terminals’ hubs and to develop joint initiatives to improve productivity and cost,” the report said. “At the same time, closer cooperation and strategic partnerships with other shipping lines and alliances are being pursued in key locations.”
APMT boosts spending at Elizabeth, N.J. terminal
