The record volumes allowed the port to maintain its position as the busiest on the East Coast with nearly 30 percent of the nation’s total market share.
Despite the increases in cargo, the Port of New York and New Jersey has experienced a 33 percent reduction in port emissions pollutants since 2006 due to its environmental initiatives.
ExpressRail, the Port Authority’s ship-to-rail system serving New York and New Jersey marine terminals, also set a new record, handling 522,244 containers for an increase of 12.2 percent over the previous annual record set in 2014. The agency’s investment of more than $600 million in ExpressRail – and its upcoming plans to build a new ExpressRail facility in Greenville Yard in Jersey City – has been critical to addressing the need for on-dock rail to improve port efficiency, competitiveness, and reduce emissions.
The port’s rail projects – along with road and security infrastructure work at the port – are funded by port wide Cargo Facility Charges.
Two consecutive years of record port growth have resulted in substantial increases in jobs and economic activity associated with port activity. Currently, the port generates 336,600 full-time jobs in the region, an increase of 13 percent over 2012, according to a recent study by the New York Shipping Association. The study also found that the port contributes to $21.2 billion in personal income, and nearly $53.5 billion in business income.
On the labor front, 181 new longshoremen, 44 checkers and 62 mechanics were hired in 2015 to work at port facilities, supplementing the 568 dockworkers hired in 2014 for a total of 855 new
dockworkers over the last two years.