The Port of Albany has been proactive in positioning itself for a future as an entrepot for project and other break bulk cargos.By George Lauriat, AJOT Rich Hendrick, General Manager of the Port of Albany, New York in an interview with the AJOT, was upbeat about the prospects for the Port, despite “cargo tonnage being down, but overall longshore man hours up” for a relatively quiet year in 2011. There were a number of reasons for his optimism. In October, the Port held its ribbon cutting for the long awaited new pier. The new $12 million wharf constructed of steel and concrete replaced a wooden timber pier built in 1927. Hendrick told the AJOT that the new pier could handle upwards to 1,200 lbs sq/ft – about twice that of the old structure. The new pier also includes an extended rail line along the wharf. The wharf was a two-phase project with Phase 1 costing $7.6 million, 6.5 million of which came from the Rebuild NY Bond Act, which entailed replacing 500 feet of wharf. Phase 2 cost $4.3 million and was financed through the New York State Department of Transportation with federal stimulus funds. Hendrick said that the new wharf would be able to handle four ships simultaneously as compared to two for the previous structure. The new wharf, with its robust deck and heavy-duty rail line, sets the Port up to handle more project freight (such as wind turbines, electric generators, transformers and out of dimension cargo) as well as break bulk cargos (scrap steel, aggregates, pulp, etc.) The rail lines are of critical importance to the Port as they link up with CSX and CP which enables project freight to moved on to main trunk lines. Another reason for Hendrick’s positive outlook is the announcement last December that the Port was awarded $11.46 million to rebuild 600 feet of wharf on the Rensselaer side of the Hudson River. Around 400 feet of the wharf was rebuilt in the 1970s, but the remaining 600 feet, built in the 1920s, are on wooden timber piles and as Hendricks said, “are nearly useless.” According to Hendrick, the wooden section hasn’t been used in two decades. Hendrick said that the wharf reconstruction project is on a fast track, “we’d like to have shovel in the ground by late spring.” Adding, “we don’t want to sit on the money, we want to put people to work.” The wharf reconstruction would effectively add two barge berths or one ship berth of capacity to the existing facilities on the Rensselaer side, roughly doubling current capacity. The Port also is looking at a bid from Greenwich, CT-based Green Waste Energy Inc. to lease 18 acres at the port for an energy plant. Green Waste Energy Inc. of Greenwich, Connecticut, was the sole bidder on the property formerly leased by Albany Renewable Energy. The Albany Renewable Energy planned a $350 million ethanol plant on the site. The lease, which began in 2009, was terminated last year when the company defaulted on its $30,000-a-month payments. Green Waste Energy proposed a 20-year lease with a 20-year option. Hendrick said the Green Waste Energy Inc proposal is currently being reviewed by the Port. The niche reachIn real estate the three most important attributes are location, location, location, and for a niche port like Albany, it is much the same. The Port is 124 nautical miles north up the Hudson River from the Port of New York/New Jersey. It’s a little over 200 miles from the Port of Montreal and around 170 miles west of the Port of Boston. CSX and CP rail lines hook the Port into trunk lines in all directions. CSX has the Selkirk and North Albany rail yards while the APRR (The Albany Port Railroad is jointly owned by CP and CSX) ties into CP’s Colonie Mainline. The Port has a natural draw into a wide variety of niche cargos that range from scrap steel, to GE equipment, flour from the local Cargill facilities and granite and other aggregates. In recent years with its unique location and transportation services, the Port has been a nice alternative for project cargo freight trying to avoid the congested highways and