[291117.EN.BIZ] Port of New York and New Jersey Handle Their First 14,000 TEU Ship

THE Port of New York and New Jersey has handled their first 14,000-TEU ship, the CMA CGM T. Roosevelt that is deployed on the South Atlantic Express (SAX) service from China via the Panama Canal.

The milestone was achieved five months after the opening of the elevated Bayonne Bridge.

Fifty ships that could not pass under the bridge before it was raised have now done so, according to the port authority. Fourteen per cent of the ships that entered the port in 2017 could carry 9,000 TEU or more, up from nine per cent in 2016, reported IHS Media.

The CMA CGM mega ship was handled at the Maher Terminals in Elizabeth and comes as the port waits to see how the elevated bridge and the widening of the Panama Canal a year earlier will impact port volumes over the long term.

The latest data shows that October capped the port's best six-month period in its history. The port in October handled 408,764 loaded TEU, with loaded imports rising by 5.8 per cent and exports increasing by 1.3 per cent year on year.

  

Some port stakeholders have questioned whether the port can handle the kind of sustained stress on equipment, resources and the drayage community that is expected when big ships visit the port on a regular basis. However, port officials said the Roosevelt docked and unloaded largely without equipment logjams or truck congestion.

Source : HKSG.