Ports in NY, NJ, and Texas are enhancing and expanding breakbulk capabilities - By Peter A. Buxbaum, AJOTPort authorities around the country are accelerating investments in breakbulk facilities, testimony to the growing strategic value of breakbulk cargoes to ports’ business strategies. Breakbulk operations create jobs and often attract additional industrial activity to the port area. In the New York-New Jersey region, the docks on the waterfront in Brooklyn, N.Y., have long specialized in breakbulk commodities as one of the leading ports of entry for bagged coffee and cocoa beans. The New York City Economic Development Corporation has invested tens of millions of dollars revitalizing the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT), which has laid dormant for a number of years, as part of a bigger strategy to spur industrial growth in Brooklyn waterfront neighborhoods. SBMT was renovated in 2009. In the greater Philadelphia area, the New Jersey side of the port, centered in Camden, has also specialized in various niche breakbulk cargoes. With the port of Camden full to capacity, the South Jersey Port Corporation decided to expand southward to Paulsboro, six miles south of Camden in Gloucester County. A bond issue is financing the development of an unused industrial site into a 190-acre breakbulk facility. Groundbreaking for the Paulsboro facility took place in September of last year. Meanwhile, the port of Corpus Christi, Texas, best known for handling dry and liquid bulk commodities and as a staging ground for the shipment of military equipment, recently undertook the first steps toward development of the La Quinta Trade Gateway Terminal. The 1,100-acre multipurpose facility which will serve to diversify the port’s capabilities. In New York, the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) was renovated in 2009 as a multipurpose cargo terminal for roll-on/roll-off and breakbulk cargoes following the conclusion of a 15-year lease between New York City Economic Development Corporation and Axis Group, Inc. The refurbishment project included building a new berth, three large sheds ranging in size from 50,000 to 100,000 square feet, and a connection to the national rail freight system. New York City is investing $40 million in SBMT for paving, security, rail access, and other infrastructure work. Axis will provide $13 million for initial capital improvements and $31 million over 20 years for maintenance of the above-grade facilities. Axis Group Inc. is headquartered in Decatur, Georgia, and is a subsidiary of Allied Holdings Inc., a group of companies involved in auto distribution. The SBMT venture is its first in New York. “Axis will use SBMT primarily as a port of entry for finished automobiles and a processing facility for vehicles intended for wholesale distribution in the U.S. and abroad,” said company president John Harrington. “Axis will also maintain general stevedoring services for containers, breakbulk and other cargo. Axis plans to aggressively market SBMT to handle cargoes such as niche containers and construction materials.” The Axis Auto Processing facility is among several maritime projects on the Brooklyn waterfront. Others include a $25 million recycling facility for metal, glass and plastics and a cement distribution facility, both which use local waterborne transportation. Sims Recycling of NY, LLC, is building a recycling center at the 30th Street Pier, where the company will process glass, metal, and plastic recyclables and transport the material via local waterways, eliminating 150,000 truck trips annually and creating 100 union jobs. The city is investing $48 million to rehabilitate docks to support the project while Sims is sinking $46 to fund upland improvements to the terminal site. Meanwhile, a Brazilian company is renovating another Brooklyn pier to create a cement import facility. The New York City Economic Development Corporation is also trying to encourage light manufacturing business to locate in the Sunset Park area adjacent