Deal approved for New York's Red Hook Terminal

Containerized cargo will continue to be part of Brooklyn waterfront activity under deals approved by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Thursday.

But a plan will also involve tapping money previously earmarked for dredging to help support shipping operations in the borough, including $2.1 million in back rent owed by a stevedore.

Under the deal, the port authority settled a long simmering dispute with the stevedore running the Red Hook Container Terminal in Brooklyn. The bi-state agency's board approved a new agreement with American Stevedoring Inc., (ASI) for a 10-year lease of the terminal, the nearby Piers 7 and 8 at the Brooklyn-Port Authority Marine Terminal, and 30 acres in Port Newark. The lease starts May 1 and ends April 30, 2018.

The agreement also settles two pending landlord/tenant proceedings that the port authority had filed in New York Civil Court against ASI's affiliated company, American Warehousing of New York    Inc. related to a lease of Pier 7 and two U.S. Federal Maritime Commission complaints filed by American Warehousing.

The deal included change to a decade-old agreement between the agency and the New York State Empire State Development Corp. that will allow it to use uncommitted funds from a dredging program to support a broader range of objectives including aterfront economic development, job retention, financial subsidies and cost recovery projects at port authority marine terminal facilities in New York. That will include $2.1 million in back rent owed by the ASI. Another $1.5 million will be used immediately and $4.1 million will be freed up for future activities including support for the operation of container and bulk cargo facilities in Brooklyn and the cost of barging containers across the New York Harbor.

The agency said that broadening the scope of the agreement beyond dredging would enable it to pursue its longstanding interest in economic development and maintain waterfront jobs, which have steadily declined in number. The cargo and logistics industry is one of the region's most important remaining sources of middle class jobs for many laborers; thus, the industry continues to merit port authority support for job-growth initiatives. The agreement to keep cargo operations at Red Hook became a cause celebre when Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration sought redevelopment of the Brooklyn waterfront that would include luxury housing and restaurants. That sparked outrage among some longshoremen, community activists and politicians.

Last year 21 New York politicians, including U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, and New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn urged the port authority to renew the lease with ASI despite the rent dispute.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a long-time advocate of continued maritime activity in Brooklyn, hailed Thursday's  action saying y finally extending this long-term lease we have saved the only remaining east-of-the-Hudson port in New York and more than 600 jobs, protected a more efficient method of moving goods in the region, and laid the groundwork for significant economic development for the future. In particular, I want to laud the Herculean efforts of Gov. David Paterson and the port authority for getting this deal done. Because they have limited upland area for stacking containers, most container operations moved decades ago from Brooklyn and Manhattan to newer container terminals in Elizabeth and Newark New Jersey or Staten Island.

But some New York officials have expressed hope that as technology improves it will become possible to handle larger volumes of containers in smaller areas. And they say moving cargo on barge across the harbor is one way to reduce congestion and pollution in the city.

Source: American Shipper