Port of New York/New Jersey has record-breaking 2018

The port handled more than 7 million TEUs in one year for the first time in its six-decade history.

   The Port of New York and New Jersey announced it handled more than 7 million TEUs in a single year for the first time in its six-decade history, in 2018.
   The port’s record-setting amount of cargo — 7.18 million TEUs — exceeded the 2017 quantity by almost 7 percent and it handled one-third of all containers on the East Coast in 2018, a 2.8 percent increase in market share. The growth was stimulated by an 8.2 percent increase in imported goods over its previous record for imports set in 2017.
   The June 2017 completion of the Bayonne Bridge Navigational Clearance Project, which raised clearance under the bridge by more than 60 feet to 215 feet, allowed the nation’s largest ships to pass under the bridge to access port terminals in New York and New Jersey. Nearly 30 percent of the port’s containerized cargo is carried on ships with a capacity to handle at least 9,000 TEUs, the Port Authority said in a statement.
   The Port of New York and New Jersey, which is the country’s third busiest behind Los Angeles and Long Beach, also set a record for rail cargo. The port authority’s ExpressRail systems transported 645,760 containers in 2018, a 13.8 percent increase from 2017.