Port of Albany revives its barge service to ease river congestion
Containers in N.J. and NYC waters will be sent upriver to Albany, then shipped out
Ports in New York City and New Jersey are experiencing congestion, but the smaller Port of Albany has a solution that could help alleviate some of that pressure.
The Port of Albany is looking to revive an old barge service that leaders there believe will offer an alternate channel for shipments and get some of the overwhelming truck brigades off of metro roads.
The port ran the service from 2005 to 2007 but shut it down when there wasn’t enough traction in exports to make it sustainable.
Now the city’s congestion is an opportunity for the upstate port to take on new exporting customers, Richard Hendrick, chief executive officer of the Albany port, said.
“We have a lot of the same customers that could benefit from the barge coming to Albany out of New York City but in order to make it affordable and feasible, we needed the southbound traffic.”
The service will permit containers arriving at the New Jersey and city ports to be transferred onto a barge and brought up to Albany to be disembarked and shipped out.
Tony Vasil, the Port of Albany’s maritime business development manager overseeing the revamp, is unsure when the service will be relaunched but is looking to get it off the ground as soon as possible.
Vasil said his team met Monday with Port Authority officials who indicated they supported the plan and would help advance it. The New York Port Authority was unable to respond to the Times Union’s request for comment before publication.
The city’s ports aren’t nearly as backed up as those in California, where 79 ships await entry offshore. Currently, there are three vessels in New York’s
“We have a lot of the same customers that could benefit from the barge coming to Albany out of New York City. But in order to make it affordable and feasible, we needed the southbound traffic.”
— Richard Hendrick, chief executive officer of the Albany port
waterway waiting to dock, Vasil said.
While it will reduce some of the congestion in the city, Hendrick described the service as a Catch-22.
“You’re removing congestion from the New York metro area by taking trucks off the road, but you’re putting them on a road, at some point, to get the container to the customer,” he said. “It’s the lesser of evils.”
Before the service can begin, the port needs to iron out associated costs on their end and prices for clients.
In the past, the Port of Albany accessed congestion mitigation grants to cover some of its expenses.
This time, port leaders aren’t going that route. Instead, they think the cargo should be able to sustain the venture.
And having an established marine highway makes the port eligible for federal funding from the Department of Transportation if it is available at the time of its launch.
The port still has a variety of logistics to work out, but if successful, Vasil anticipates the barge service will generate a “decent amount of revenue” alongside other economic and eco-friendly benefits.
The move could introduce containerization to the region and stimulate parts of the economy as well lessen fuel consumption, slash emissions and improve air quality, Vasil said.
“Anything we could do to help relieve it would be good,” he said.