The $56 million ship-to-rail facility in Bayonne is going to be used “to transfer containerized cargo from the Global Container Terminal,” according to a spokeswoman from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
With some Bayonne residents expressing a concern that the ship-to-rail facility adjacent to GCT Bayonne would serve as a garbage transfer station, in light of Mayor Jimmy Davis mentioning the project at the Hudson County Alliance for Action breakfast on Tuesday.
“As a region, I am happy to say that plans are in the works to invest approximately $56 million in a new ship-to-rail facility adjacent to Global Contain Terminals in Bayonne,” Davis said at the event, where Hudson County View was the only media outlet in attendance.
“This investment will promote economic activity and reduce truck traffic in our roadways. As a city, we have plans to continue the investment in our local infrastructure.”
Lenis Rodrigues, a spokeswoman for the Port Authority, appeared to be on the same wavelength as Davis when Hudson County View inquired about the situation via an email this afternoon.
“The facility is going to be used to transfer containerized cargo from the Global Container Terminal,” Rodrigues said.
She also pointed to a press released issued from the authority back in October, which said “the Port Authority will reimburse GCT up to $56 million to cover the costs of the construction of the facility.”
“Under a lease supplement with GCT USA, the terminal operator agreed to complete the final design and build the new ExpressRail Port Jersey facility in Greenville Yard. In return, the Port Authority will reimburse GCT up to $56 million to cover the costs of construction of the facility,” the release said.
“The project, as with other ExpressRail projects in the harbor, is contingent on continued funding provided by the Cargo Facility Charge, a per-container fee assessed on cargo shipped through the Port of New York and New Jersey to cover the costs of critical road, rail and security infrastructure projects.”
The project is expected to be completed sometime in 2018 and is also expected to “have an initial capacity of at least 125,000 container lifts a year.”
Rodrigues this morning responded to a question asking if “cargo may or may not contain garbage” at the facility, stating that it would not.
“Containerized cargo is not garbage. It contains commodities that all of us use on a daily basis,” she said.
An email sent to a Bayonne spokesman said definitively that the project is “not a garbage transfer station.
“The ship-to-rail facility you are talking about is connected with Global Terminal, which is a container port, not a garbage transfer station,” Ryan said in an email.
Additionally, 3rd Ward Councilman Gary La Pelusa said outright that the facility “has nothing to do with garbage at all” in a Facebook post last night.
