
Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal, a major component of the
Port of New York and New Jersey
The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York metropolitan area, New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
It includes the sy ...
, is the principal
container ship
A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...
facility for goods entering and leaving the
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...
and the northeastern quadrant of
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
.
Located on
Newark Bay, the facility is run by the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...
. Its two components, Port Newark and the Elizabeth Marine Terminal (sometimes called Port Elizabeth) sit side by side within the cities of
Newark and
Elizabeth,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, just east of the
New Jersey Turnpike
The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highway, controlled-access toll roads in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA).The Garden State Parkway, although ma ...
and
Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark, New Jersey, Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and E ...
.
Operations
, the facility was the largest on the
U.S. East Coast and the second-largest in the country.
Container goods typically arrive on container ships through
The Narrows and the
Kill Van Kull
__NOTOC__
The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York (state), New York, and Bayonne, New Jersey, Bayonne, New Jersey, in the United States. It is approximately long and wide and connects Newark Bay with Upper New York ...
before entering Newark Bay, a shallow body of water that has been dredged to accommodate large ships. Some ships enter Newark Bay via the
Arthur Kill. The port facility consists of two main dredged slips and multiple loading cranes.
Shipping containers are arrayed in large stacks visible from the New Jersey Turnpike before being loaded onto rail cars and trucks.
Since 1998, the port has seen a 65% increase in traffic. In 2006, it handled more than 20% of all US imports from Germany, more than any other US port.
In 2009, the major port operators at Port Newark–Elizabeth included Maher Terminals,
APM Terminals
APM Terminals is a Port operator, port operating company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands. A unit of Denmark, Danish Freight transport, shipping company Maersk's Transport and Logistics division. It manages container terminals and provides ...
(part of
A. P. Moller-Maersk), and Port Newark Container Terminal (owned by Ports America Inc.).
Improvements
The port received new cranes in May 2014.
The height of ships serving the port is limited by the
Bayonne Bridge
The Bayonne Bridge is an Through arch bridge, arch bridge that spans the Kill Van Kull between Staten Island, New York (state), New York, and Bayonne, New Jersey, Bayonne, New Jersey, United States. It carries New York State Route 440 and ...
over Kill Van Kull. This limitation grew more serious with the
Panama Canal's 2016 expansion that enabled bigger,
New Panamax ships to reach the port from Asia. In 2012, the Port Authority announced plans to raise the Bayonne Bridge's roadway to over the water, at a cost of around $1.7 billion.
The increased navigational clearance was achieved in June 2017, and the overall bridge project was completed in 2019. Other improvements are expected to cost additional billions of dollars, including larger cranes, bigger railyard facilities, deeper channels, and expanded wharves.
Rail facilities
ExpressRail
ExpressRail is a network of on- or near-dock rail yards supporting intermodal freight transport at the major container terminals of the Port of New York and New Jersey. The development of dockside trackage and rail yards for transloading has bee ...
, an initiative of the PANYNJ, provides dockside
transloading
Transloading, also known as cross-docking, is the process of transferring a shipment from one mode of transportation to another. It is most commonly employed when one mode cannot be used for the entire trip, such as when goods must be shipped in ...
operations at both Port Elizabeth (operated by
Millennium Marine Rail
ExpressRail is a network of on- or near-dock rail yards supporting intermodal freight transport at the major container terminals of the Port of New York and New Jersey. The development of dockside trackage and rail yards for transloading has bee ...
) and Port Newark.
Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CRCX) is the
terminal railroad
A switching and terminal railroad is a freight railroad company whose primary purpose is to perform local switching services or to own and operate a terminal facility.
Switching is a type of operation done within the limits of a yard. It gener ...
connecting to the
Chemical Coast for
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...
(CSX) and
Norfolk Southern
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...
(NS).
The auto-processing facilities at the north end of Port Newark and the adjacent Doremus Ave. Auto Terminal are served by dockside trackage.
Oak Island Yard, the major
classification yard in the region, is just north of the port. NS operates an ExpressRail yard south of the port next to
Jersey Gardens.
History

The western edge of Newark Bay was originally the Newark Meadows, shallow tidal
wetlands
A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
covering about . In the 1910s, the city of Newark began excavating an angled shipping
channel in the northeastern quadrant of the wetland. This became the basis of Port Newark. Work on the channel and terminal facilities on its north side accelerated during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, when the federal government took control of Port Newark. During the war, nearly 25,000 troops were stationed at the Newark Bay Shipyard.
The
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...
was formed in 1921, and the Newark Bay Channels were authorized by the
Rivers and Harbors Act
Rivers and Harbors Act may refer to one of many pieces of legislation and appropriations passed by the United States Congress since the first such legislation in 1824. At that time Congress appropriated $75,000 to improve navigation on the Ohio an ...
s in 1922. Shipping operations languished after the war, and in 1927, the city of Newark started construction of Newark Airport (now known as
Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark, New Jersey, Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and E ...
) on the northwestern quadrant of the wetlands that lay between Port Newark and the edge of the developed city. The port authority took over the operations of Port Newark and Newark Airport in 1948 and began modernizing both facilities and expanding them southward.
The
SS ''Ideal X'', considered the first container ship, made her maiden voyage as a container carrier on April 26, 1956,
carrying 58 containers from Port Newark to the
Port of Houston
The Port of Houston is one of the world's largest ports and serves the metropolitan area of Houston, Houston, Texas. The port is a complex of diversified public and private facilities located a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico. Loc ...
.
[History - Port of New York and New Jersey - Port Authority of New York & New Jersey](_blank)
Panynj.gov. Retrieved on 2014-06-23. SeaLand expanded its operations into the newly developed container terminal.
In 1958, the port authority dredged another shipping channel, which straightened the course of Bound Brook, the tidal
inlet
An inlet is a typically long and narrow indentation of a shoreline such as a small arm, cove, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea.
Overview
In ...
forming the boundary between Newark and Elizabeth. Dredged materials were used to create new upland south of the new Elizabeth Channel, where the port authority constructed the Elizabeth Marine Terminal. The first shipping facility to open on the Elizabeth Channel was the new
Sea-Land Container Terminal
A container port, container terminal, or intermodal terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land v ...
, which was the prototype for virtually every container terminal constructed thereafter.
This new port facility antiquated most of the traditional waterfront port facilities in
New York Harbor
New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States.
New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...
, leading to a steep decline in such areas as
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
,
Hoboken,
Jersey City
Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous and
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
. The automated nature of the facility requires far fewer workers and does not require the opening of containers before onward shipping.
In 2000, a Congressional study deemed the port and other transportation, communications, oil, and chemical facilities along a stretch of New Jersey "the nation's most enticing environment for terrorists", according to a 2005 ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' article.
In 2011, PANYNJ restructured the lease of a major tenant, Port Newark Container Terminal (PNCT), whose owner had been subject of the
Dubai Ports World controversy. The agreement calls for a 20-year extension of PNCT's existing lease through 2050, subject to PNCT's investment of $500 million and an expansion from to about to accommodate additional volume. It is expected to generate an annual increase in container volume from
Mediterranean Shipping Company, the world's second-largest shipping company, from 414,000 to 1.1 million containers by 2030. Various planned steps to accommodate this growth include deepening the Kill van Kull, raising the Bayonne Bridge, and expanding
rail freight
Rail freight transport is the use of railways and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers.
A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) hauled ...
facilities. Highstar Capital, the owner of PNCT's parent company Ports America is shopping the company. In 2017, a Turkish company seeks to buy Ports America.
In July 2023, an Italian-flagged ship owned by the
Grimaldi Group
The Grimaldi Group is a private shipping company owned by the Grimaldi family (Emanuele Grimaldi) and based in Naples, Italy. Grimaldi operates a large fleet of ro-ro, ro-ro/multipurpose, Ro-ro, con-ro multipurpose, PCTC (Pure Car and Truck Ca ...
carrying close to 1,200 vehicles for export caught fire, resulting in the death of two
Newark Fire Department firefighters.
Port of New York and New Jersey facilities
Other seaport terminals of the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...
include:
*
Howland Hook Marine Terminal on
Arthur Kill at
Newark Bay
*
Port Jersey Marine Terminal on
Upper New York Bay
New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States.
New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay ...
See also
*
Gateway Region
*
Chemical Coast
*
Marine life of New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary
*
List of North American ports
*
List of ports in the United States
*
List of world's busiest container ports
This article lists the world's busiest Containerization, container ports (ports with container terminals that specialize in handling goods transported in Intermodal container, intermodal shipping containers), by total number of twenty-foot equi ...
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal
Container terminals
Economy of Newark, New Jersey
Buildings and structures in Elizabeth, New Jersey
Geography of Newark, New Jersey
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Port of New York and New Jersey
Newark-Elizabeth Maine Terminal
Transportation buildings and structures in Essex County, New Jersey
Transportation in Newark, New Jersey