Box terminal purchase bypasses Bayonne Bridge height problem

THE Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is buying a large chunk of land at the former Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne and all of the Global Terminal container port in Jersey City.

Under the terms of the deal disclosed by the port authority, Bayonne will receive payments totalling US$235 million over 24 years, including $135 million for the 130 acres of Ocean Terminal, plus almost 100 underwater acres surrounding the peninsula. The agency will pay the city another $100 million for permanent roadway easements to assure that trucks and other vehicles can access the site.


According to an official close to the negotiations who refused to be named, Global Terminal`s current owners will continue to operate the container port under a lease with the port authority, which will own the 98-acre property. The agency will pay Global a tenant`s development allowance of up to $150 million towards the total cost of $312 million for an expansion of the terminal, reports the Newark Star-Ledger.


"In light of the problem they`ve been having with the Bayonne Bridge, this facility would be an ideal solution," Christopher Patella, executive director of the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority, was quoted as saying.


The bridge`s 151-foot clearance above the Kill Van Kull strait restricts access to large containerships headed to the Port Newark/Elizabeth Marine Terminal container complex and Staten Island`s Howland Hook terminal. Officials fear thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in commerce could be lost to competing ports as more mega box ships from Asian arrive at east coast ports following the completed expansion of the Panama Canal in 2014.


The solution Mr Patella suggested was that large containerships could simply be handled at a new Bayonne peninsula terminal or the expanded Global terminal.


But a spokesman for Governor Chris Christie said the Bayonne peninsula and Global projects do not constitute a solution. Rather, the two acquisitions are parts of the governor`s broader, ongoing plan to maximise the region`s port operations, according to his spokesman, Michael Drewniak.