Ports America, MSC to expand Newark terminal
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey board approved plans Tuesday to expand the Port Newark Container Terminal (PNCT) to 287 acres from 180.
The agency said the expansion will create a modern terminal, improve traffic flow in the port, and allow PNCT to better serve customers, including Mediterranean Shipping Co., the world’s second-largest container carrier.
MSC moved its business to PNCT in 2009 from the adjacent Maher Terminal in Port Elizabeth, and immediately became PNCT’s largest customer, accounting for 85 percent of its business.
The port authority also said Terminal Investment Ltd. (TIL) will acquire a half-interest in PNCT from Ports America.
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Allen Clifford, executive vice president of MSC, said, “TIL is the investment company, not MSC. Mediterranean Shipping Co. is only the operator of the terminal.
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'MSC is signing a long-term agreement with Ports America, but as an operator, only. Ports America and MSC are good partners and look forward to a long term relationship in the handling of these vessels at PNCT,” he added.
The additional 100 acres will “help MSC and its clients for the future to avoid any congestion and service our clients in the very best possible manner,” he said.
PNCT intends to invest $500 million in the New Jersey terminal, said Richard Larrabee, the port authority’s director of port commerce. MSC has also committed to increase the amount of cargo it moves through the port from 414,000 containers today to 1.1 million containers by 2030.
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TIL and Ports America also partnered in March 2009 when they were awarded a 50-year concession for a terminal in the Outer Harbor of Oakland. They are slated to spend as much as $500 million upgrading that terminal as well.
PNCT, whose lease now runs through Nov. 30, 2030, would see its lease extended an additional 20 years after completing the $500 million investment.
Through 2019, the port authority will not renew some tenant leases that come due at adjoining properties to accommodate the expansion, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the agency. He said the biggest of these leaseholders is Port Elizabeth Terminal Warehouse, and that the port authority is working to relocate them.
MSC also began calling the Port of Philadelphia in 2009, but Clifford said there are “different catchment areas for vessels calling at Philadelphia and New York-New Jersey. Cargoes that move over the Port of Philadelphia from various local and intermodal points are quite different than what moves over Port Newark for MSC, therefore the two do not conflict at all.” ' Chris Dupin