APM Terminals North America announces the appointment of Jon Poelma, Managing Director of APM Terminals Elizabeth, New Jersey effective November 1, 2019. He succeeds David Gledhill who retired September 30, 2019.
![Jon Poelma, Managing Director of APM Terminals Elizabeth](https://www.ajot.com/images/uploads/article/191014_Jon_Poelma_APM_Terminals_Elizabeth_Managing_Director_photo_.jpeg)
Jon Poelma has extensive transportation industry experience and success in transforming operations and improving the customer experience. He was previously President and Chief Operating Officer for Consolidated Chassis Management (CCM) based in New Jersey, USA with seven years experience; four years at Schneider National as Director of Intermodal Operations – Eastern region; 12 years with Maersk Line in various roles of increasing responsibility in Trade and Strategy with postings in Madison, New Jersey USA, Singapore and Copenhagen, Denmark. He holds an MBA from Cornell University.
APM Terminals North America President and CEO Wim Lagaay said “Jon’s appointment will bring out the best in our customers, our stakeholders and our people. Elizabeth is one our most important US east coast ports with a major $200 million upgrade nearing completion and he and our current management team can take our operations to the next level for our customers. Equally important, his experience in trucking and intermodal fits well with the large intermodal operations we have at Elizabeth.”
The Elizabeth facility is nearing completion of a three year, $200 million upgrade project that has:
Built a new, reinforced berth to accommodate the taller and heavier ship-to-shore (STS) cranes necessary to handle the larger vessels now calling the Port of NY and NJ.
Added four new STS cranes. We now offer eight super Post-Panamax cranes (4 x 23-container wide reach, 4 x 21- container wide reach) and six Post-Panamax cranes with an 18-container wide reach.
The new berth can handle three Ultra-Large Container Ships simultaneously.
The deep-water berth is dredged to 50 feet (15.2 meters).
New gate complex opening in Q1 2020 to offer a better trucker experience, featuring a new gate complex will provide 24 inbound gates and 16 outbound terminal gates to optimize traffic through the terminal and reduce truck turn-around times. Gate and yard technology will feature optical character recognition, radio frequency identification, global positioning systems, closed circuit television, weigh-in-motion scales and emphasis on Safety.
New trucker appointment system being added in 2020.
Recently upgraded Terminal Operating (computer) system. These improvements are possible through the continued partnership with the hard-working men and women of our ILA workforce.
Refurbished and removed outdated terminal structures on our 350 acre site.
Grown with the port’s raising of the Bayonne Bridge, allowing vessels of up to 18,000 TEU capacity to enter – all thanks to the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey’s investment in infrastructure upgrades.
“Our goal is to make APM Terminals Elizabeth safer, easier to use and faster for our trucker community, more productive for our shipping line clients and more reliable for our clients’ supply chains expectations. Our leadership announcement today combined with our major upgrade investment is designed to make our customers more competitive in the market and improve their terminal experience,” added Lagaay.