Reconstruction of Maher Terminals, Elizabeth, New Jersey

Maher Terminals formerly operated two separate facilities at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's (PANYNJ's) Elizabeth Marine Terminal. The Fleet Street Facility was primarily a straddle-carrier container operation. The Tripoli Street Terminal was a combination wheeled operation and top-pick grounded operation. In 1998, the PANYNJ, in conjunction with Maher and the other terminal tenants developed a master plan that allowed Maher to consolidate the two separate terminals into one 445-acre terminal on the Northeast corner of the Elizabeth Peninsula. The new terminal is a fully grounded straddle-carrier operation. By April 2006, construction associated with the consolidation was over 90 percent complete, and the terminal was being operated as one contiguous facility. The new facility is the largest container terminal on the east coast and will include over 10,000 feet of contiguous berth, a fleet of 17 container cranes (including 11 super-Panamax cranes), 990 reefer outlets, a paperless gate system designed to process more than 10,000 moves per day, a web-enabled computerized terminal management system, satellite empty container storage and dispatch, an adjacent co-op chassis pool, and direct access to an on-dock intermodal rail facility. This paper will discuss the details of the reconstruction, the challenges with implementing them in the midst of an operating terminal (with continuously increasing throughput), and innovations to facilitate operations.