By Paul Scott Abbott, AJOTSteve Liberti, Sr. can recall first-hand the days in the ’60s and ’70s when New York docks were bustling with breakbulk activity, with cargo being hoisted on and off boom-equipped vessels sailing throughout the world. While the times and procedures have changed, Port Authority of New York & New Jersey facilities are now enjoying a resurgence of breakbulk action, as burgeoning volumes of non-conventional cargos are being lashed on flat racks and moved around the globe on decks of containerships. “It’s a great, great time to be in the import-export business,” said Liberti, 59, president of Port Newark-based Harbor Freight Transport Corp., founded by his father in 1947. “It reminds you a little bit of the boom days of the ’70s. It’s really amazing.” Back when Liberti started in his dad’s business, fresh out of high school in 1967, most of the action was on the New York side of the Hudson River, predominantly in Brooklyn. Containerships had not yet supplanted breakbulk vessels as the industry standard and use of palletization even was rare. “I’ve got to tell you, what we have today doesn’t resemble ’67, let alone ’47,” said Liberti, whose firm is based on the New Jersey harborfront, home to Harbor Freight Transport for 37 years now. Liberti was referring to the fact that the manner in which most breakbulk cargo moves has changed significantly. With regular breakbulk services a diminishing breed and containerships dominating maritime commerce, shippers are increasingly looking to ports that offer a multitude of container vessel sailings for timely movement of their non-conventional cargos – typically lashed on flat racks. The proliferation of containership sailings out of Port Authority of New York & New Jersey terminals is one reason the Big Apple area is again become an apple of the eye of shippers of breakbulk items. According to Liberti, such shippers have been routing a lot of breakbulk cargo through New York and New Jersey of late, sometimes willing to pay for longer ground transport than they would if they used other Northeast or mid-Atlantic ports. Liberti also cited his firm’s expertise in handling this type of cargo, capabilities in export packing and familiarity with the National Cargo Bureau’s Annex 13 requirements for loading and lashing of flat racks and hazardous materials containers. Following these requirements minimizes damage and loss of cargo that can result from improper lashing, he noted. Another advantage for Harbor Freight Transport is the fact that it operates from a 150,000-square-foot warehouse on some 10 acres within the Port Newark complex. “Our port has become very competitive with other ports for this type of cargo,” Liberti said. “The port authority is behind the efforts of many companies in this area in bringing this type of cargo back. “While New York is known for containers and autos,” he added, “we’re actually becoming a full-service port again with this breakbulk.” Another industry veteran, Robert A. Gaffney, manager of industry and labor relations for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, sees things the same way. Gaffney, who has worked in the industry for 42 years, the past 39 years with the port authority, noted that the shift to moving breakbulk-type goods on containerships was born “out of necessity.” “When companies are trying to import or export such things – yachts, machinery, knocked-down plants, large steel rolls, what have you – unless there happens to be direct ro/ro [roll-on/roll-off] service between two ports, the cargo is put on flat racks and then on a containership,” Gaffney said. “They don’t build those kinds of ships with booms and all anymore,” Gaffney said, noting as an exception New Orleans-based project cargo leader Intermarine LLC, which is to begin taking delivery in late 2008 on the first of eight newbuildings with dual portside-mounted heavylift cranes, augmenting a specialized fleet already more than two-dozen vessels strong. For the most par