The Port of New York/New Jersey is well on its way to another strong year in 2025. The Port has also inked important deals with its lease holders. But a number of big questions remain on Port projects funding with the Trump Administration.
There is an old saying that ‘a rising tide lifts all ships’ and in the case of the Port of New York/New Jersey in 2024 the tide of cargo lifted the East Coast’s largest Port to its third best year ever, reaching 8.7 million TEUs, surpassed only by the post-COVID freight surge in 2021 and 2022. The Port of New York/New Jersey also was the nation’s third largest port in 2024, behind the West Coast ports of Los Angeles at 10 million TEUs while Long Beach hit 9.649 million TEUs. And besides the container business, the Port handled 68,000 tons of breakbulk cargo, 36.1 million tons of bulk, 410,000 vehicles and 331 cruise ships in 2024.
And the economic importance of the Port of New York/New Jersey is extraordinary as global realtor Cushman & Wakefield outlined in their 2025 first half report stating, “The Port has the largest 250-mile radius population of any port in North America, with more than 60 million people making up one-third of the country’s GDP”.
Still, by any measure, a strong performance for the PANYNJ’s marine terminals.
But, as corollary to the old adage suggests with the advent of 2025, the tide was going to turn and how that would manifest itself was open to speculation…and now 10-months into the year there is even more uncertainty as the full effects of the Trump Administration’s tariffs and maritime regulatory regime come into play.
2025: A Great Year in the Making*
It’s possible in the future the New York/New Jersey port community will put 2025 in the record book as a ‘Great Year’ but like Roger Maris’ 61 home run record, it may well be tagged with a big asterisk.
The Port’s numbers as they were in 2024 are again in 2025 very good and the PANYNJ notched a number of notable accomplishments.
The latest 2025 TEU numbers through August are pointing to 2025 being a very solid year. According to PANYNJ, “August 2025 was the Port of New York and New Jersey’s second-busiest August ever” as the Port handled 835,845 TEUs which was fractionally 0.9 percent below the set in 2022 during post-pandemic cargo surge and 5.7 percent over 2024 and up 23% over the August 2019 pre-pandemic total. More significantly, the Port ranked second in the US for loaded TEUs over the first eight months of the year. From January to August the Port of New York/New Jersey handled 6,047,395 TEUs — 4.1% over 2024 and a whopping 21.1% over the same period in pre-pandemic 2019.
So, what’s behind the Port’s solid numbers?
The front-loading imports by shippers to tap down the potential cost increases due to the Trump Administration’s tariff blitz has been an important element in the rise in TEUs in 2025, not only the Port of New York/New Jersey but also other hub ports in the US. As Jonathan Gold, National Retail Federation (NRF) Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy explained, “This year’s peak season has come and gone, largely due to retailers front-loading imports ahead of reciprocal tariffs taking effect.” Adding, “New sectoral tariffs continue to be announced, but most retailers are well-stocked for the holiday season and doing as much as they can to shield their customers from the costs of tariffs for as long as they can.”
The end result of the front-loading was a stronger demand earlier in the calendar ahead of the traditional “peak season” which coupled with strong regional economic figures translated into the Port of NY/NJ handling more than 6 million TEUs over the first eight months.
Secondly, the Port of NY/NJ is simply handling bigger ships. For example, in February the Port celebrated the arrival of the OOCL Iris at Maher Terminals marking a significant milestone for the Port of New York and New Jersey. The 16,828 TEU vessel was at the time the largest ship to call at the Port.
What made the call possible was in 2016, the Port Authority and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) completed a project that began in 1999 to deepen the harbor to 50-feet. And in 2019, the Port Authority completed the raising of the roadway of the Bayonne Bridge to a navigational height clearance of 215-feet. With the increase in channel depth and air draft the Port can now accommodate container ships like the OOCL Iris. As Rooney pointed out in the State of the Port meeting, “Nearly 70% of the containerized cargo that’s coming into the Port of New York and New Jersey today is coming in on a ship that could not fit under the Bayonne Bridge six years ago.”
Also, it is not just the size of the ships but the nature of the calls to the Port. According to PANYNJ there are 54 individual services calling at the Port of NY/NJ, with 47 of them regularly calling. Of those 47 regular services, 44 are weekly services. And 73% of them are making their first port of call in the Port of NY/NJ while 13% of them are making the last call in the Port. And having first and last calls in a rotation is a good measure of the importance of a Port to the containership operators — and the Port of New York/New Jersey is clearly at the top of their list on the East Coast.
APM Lease: “Landmark Deal”
On March 24th PANYNJ and APM Terminals (an independent division of A.P. Møller Mærsk) announced what was described as a “landmark” agreement on a 33-year lease extension. The lease extension with PANYNJ is described as taking a “unique, nontraditional approach of incorporating performance, infrastructure, and sustainability requirements into the contract,” essentially establishing a new “framework” for P3s (public-private-partnerships) that are becoming an important method for ports to handle infrastructure expansion.
APM Terminals is the operator of the Port’s second-largest container terminal and the extension agreement includes major investments and capacity enhancements by APM Terminals at its container terminal. Under the new agreement, APM Terminals will invest over $500 million to improve cargo-handling capacity at the 350-acre terminal. APM has also committed to the replacement and maintenance of all wharf and berth structures. APM is committed to achieving the net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and support the PANYNJ’s goal of reaching net zero by 2050. Under the new agreement, APM Terminals will invest in zero-emission cargo-handling equipment and as lessee, the terminal operator is also subject to the Authority’s marine terminal tariff (through which PANYNJ incentivizes the adoption of cleaner equipment as new technology becomes commercially available). Notably, the Authority and APM Terminals will expand the lease to include portions of an adjacent parcel of land to APM Terminals for enhanced productivity. And with inking the APM extension, a majority of the Port’s terminal tenants are now booked in with long-term agreements: APM Terminals through 2062, Port Liberty Bayonne and New York through 2047, and Port Newark Container Terminal through 2050.
The Asterisk in 2025
In early February at the State of the Port meeting PANYNJ’s Port Department said they had identified strategic goals for the next five years and that they were almost through the first phase of the new Port Master Plan. While many of the goals contained within the Port Master Plan are obtainable within the operating framework of PANYNJ, other segments of the plan require support and cooperation from the Federal government and that support is no longer a given.
The Trump Administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, signed in July, is significantly altering port financing and jeopardizing existing programs — particularly environmental programs. The legislation modifies and in cases, voids funds awarded under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Further funding under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) to fund port equipment, such as drayage trucks, electric trucks, gantry cranes and electric yard tractors are also at risk of being cut. Programs like DERA PANYNJ uses for funding its Truck Replacement Program. The Trump Administration has also taken aim at eliminating offshore wind projects like Arthur Kill Terminal, an offshore wind port in New York, for which $48 million in Port Infrastructure (PIDP) funding had been designated. With the difficulties emerging from the administration’s position on port funding, there has already been a shift in the thinking among many port authorities to at least in the short term shift more infrastructure funding from grant-based programs to P-3 (public-private-partnerships).
In a highly unusual show of unity, state governors Kathy Hochul, New York, Governor Phil Murphy, New Jersey, Governor Maura Healey, Massachusetts, Governor, Ned Lamont, Connecticut and Governor Dan McKee, Rhode Island, issued a joint Labor Day statement in opposing to the President Trump’s offshore wind policies, and asking the administration to “uphold all offshore wind permits already granted and allow these projects to be constructed.”
How it eventually all works out is likely years away but, in the meantime, PANYNJ looks to continue to work to keep the Port of New York/New Jersey the dominant port on the East Coast.
