NYCEDC's PortNYC supports developing the City's passenger and freight transportation terminals to sustain the region's economic growth. PortNYC facilities include marine cargo terminals, rail facilities, cruise terminals, ferry landings, and heliports within the five boroughs of the City of New York.

We ensure that New York City’s transportation infrastructure can support the expected population and economic growth over the next 20 years. To that end, we are engaged in a variety of projects that enhance the mobility of people and cargo into, within and throughout New York City. We also strive to be the preeminent provider of strategic planning for aviation, rail freight and maritime-policy initiatives that foster economic development.

Transportation Priorities

• Support New York City’s $9 billion maritime industry, which includes ports and terminals, ferry operations, government services, maritime support operations recreational and commercial boating and maritime environmental resources.
• Develop New York City’s rail freight assets to maximize the use of rail by local businesses.
• Develop New York City’s maritime infrastructure and resources through investment and public-private partnerships.
• Provide strategic planning for aviation and transportation-policy initiatives
• Identify innovative dredged material management programs to ensure a balance between development and protection of harbor ecosystems.
• Secure state and federal waterfront permits for NYCEDC projects as well as providing assistance to City agencies and maritime businesses.
• Identify non-City funding sources to maritime development

PortNYC transportation activities are divided into six primary categories: Marine Cargo, Rail, Cruise, Ferries, Aviation and Dredging & Permitting.

Download the PortNYC Brochure 

Marine Cargo

Growth in maritime business, driven by global trade, is expected to generate new users along the City’s waterfront. The Port of New York and New Jersey is the third largest port in the United States and the largest port complex on the Atlantic Coast. NYCEDC plays a crucial role in supporting and developing economic activity at this and other of New York City’s maritime interests. We are dedicated to ensuring that New York’s seaports continue to remain competitive in an ever changing shipping market.

Cargo Facilities

• New York Container Terminal (containers)
• South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (ro-ro and project cargoes)
• Lafarge Pier/New York Sand and Stone
• Red Hook Container Terminal (containers, break-bulk, and ro-ro)

Maritime Projects

• Maritime Support Services Location Study

Rail

Economic growth within New York City and the greater metropolitan area hinges upon a land-based transportation network that is not entirely dependent on truck transportation.  To that end, NYCEDC works to enhance freight rail infrastructure and operations within the City, leveraging rail transportation’s economic and environmental efficiencies that lower transportation costs for local businesses and eliminate trucks from the City’s road network, which, in turn reduces congestion and improves air quality.

NYCEDC’s policy work in this area involves managing capital projects to expand and improve freight rail infrastructure in the City, negotiating with railroads to improve existing rail facilities and site new operations within the City, and participating in regional freight initiatives such as the East of Hudson Rail Freight Operations Task Force and the Cross Harbor Freight Project EIS.  This work involves close collaboration with the City’s eight freight rail carriers—CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, Canadian Pacific Railway, Conrail, New York & Atlantic Railway, Providence & Worcester Railroad, New York New Jersey Rail, and New York Container Terminal—as well as the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, the New York State Department of Transportation Freight Bureau, and other City agencies.

In addition to advancing freight rail policy for the City, NYCEDC also manages key freight rail facilities that are owned by the City of New York and operated through public-private partnerships with national Class I railroads and local shortlines.  Three facilities make up NYCEDC’s freight rail portfolio: the Staten Island Railroad, including the Arlington Rail Yard and the Arthur Kill Lift Bridge, which was reopened in 2007 after a $75 million rehabilitation; rail infrastructure at the City’s Food Distribution Center in the South Bronx, featuring the largest terminal produce market in the country; and rail along the Brooklyn Waterfront that supports the last existing carfloat operation across the harbor. 

Through its policy and asset management work, NYCEDC seeks to bring freight rail infrastructure to a state of good repair, promote safe freight rail operations, enhance railroad competition in the region and encourage new freight rail shippers.

Rail Facilities

• Staten Island Railroad including Arlington Railyard and the Arthur Kill Lift Bridge
• Hunts Point Food Distribution Center
• Brooklyn Waterfront Rail System
• Bush Terminal 51st Street Railyard
• South Brooklyn Marine Terminal
• 65th Street Railyard

Cruise

New York City has recently invested $250 million dollars in the Manhattan and Brooklyn Cruise Terminals, making them among the finest state-of-the-art cruise terminals in the world. Our modern facilities provide passengers a smooth and efficient experience while embarking and debarking. Continued investments and the industry's top awards have made NYCruise the departure point for more than 1.2 million passengers annually.

NYCruise is home to the world's most spectacular - often fastest, biggest, and most luxurious - passenger ships. Itineraries include Bermuda, Canada, New England, Europe, and the Caribbean and world cruises. Each terminal is easily accessible from NYC airports and from the area's major roadways. Spacious pick-up and drop-off areas offer abundant parking as well.

Cruise Terminals

• Manhattan Cruise Terminal
• Brooklyn Cruise Terminal

Disney Cruise Line

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced in April 2011 that Disney Cruise Line will be calling New York City its newest homeport. Beginning in May 2012, the Disney Magic will sail 20 cruises from the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, with destinations that include the Bahamas and Canada. The ship calls will bring an estimated 45,000 additional embarking passengers into New York City, resulting in an estimated $11 million in direct spending. The cruise ship industry continues to play an increasingly important role in New York City’s tourism industry and overall economy – cruise passengers and crew spent approximately $144 million while ashore in the City last year, contributing to the record-breaking 48.7 million visitors who visited New York City in 2010. Disney is the sixth major cruise line to make New York City its homeport, joining Carnival Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Holland America at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, along with Cunard and Princess at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.

Ferries

Throughout the history of New York, ferries have been used to transport people around the metropolitan region. Before the arrival of expressways, bridges and tunnels, ferries served as the predominant way to travel quickly across the city’s waterways, connecting waterfronts and helping to grow the city.

Today, ferries continue to play an important role in transportation and economic development, providing an environmentally sustainable, alternative mode of transportation for thousands of residents, commuters and visitors daily. Ferries serve as a compliment to the city’s mass transit system, offering waterfront residents more convenient transit options. In underserved areas, ferries can provide much needed transportation options (in some places along the city’s waterfront the nearest subway stop is more than ¾ mile away).

As waterfront across the City continues to be reclaimed for recreation and new communities, ferries can help provide the basic transportation infrastructure required for sustainable growth. And, as trains and buses along the waterfront continue to become increasingly congested, ferries can help alleviate overcrowding.

Ferries do more than just move commuters and visitors; they can also make our city safer. Ferries have also been called upon on numerous occasions to provide emergency and transportation services during times of crisis.

NYCEDC is working closely with other agencies including the New York City Department of Transportation, the New York City Office of Emergency Management, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, as well as private operators and the community to expand ferry service and continue to develop a safe, reliable, and convenient alternative mode of transportation.

Ferries Projects

• Citywide Ferry Study
• East River Commuter Service
• Coney Island Ferry Feasibility Study
• East 34th Street Ferry Terminal

Aviation

On November 24, 2004 the City of New York and the PANYNJ signed a fifty-year lease for both JFK and LaGuardia Airports. The long-term lease was the catalyst for the creation of the Aviation office within NYCEDC. The office acts as a liaison between the City and the PANYNJ on key aviation initiatives, as well as maintaining the long-term economic viability of the New York City airports.

The vision for New York City's airports is for them to become:

• Recognized as world leaders in the safe, smooth and efficient movement of people and goods
• Innovative freight logistics hubs that aggressively capitalize on our region's unparalleled consumer market and generate hundreds more high-paying, blue-collar jobs
• The undisputed national focus of federal investment and innovation in high-technology air-traffic control
• World-class visitor destinations that seamlessly integrate into local transportation systems
• The office also oversees both the 34th Street and the Downtown Manhattan Heliports and serves as the City’s representative to the surrounding communities impacted by the heliports.

The document below identifies common types of helicopters used at NYC Heliports.  It also shows the two routes that air tour operators must follow.

Helicopter Identification Sheet 

Dredging

Sustaining the economic viability of New York City’s maritime businesses depends upon maintaining the depths of navigation channels, approach channels, and berths at marine terminals and marinas.  Dredging to provide deep enough water for vessels to transit safely into, out of, and around New York Harbor has been taking place since the early 19th century. 

While New York Harbor is a superb natural harbor sheltering vessels from the elements, it is naturally only 20 feet deep.  Today’s massive containerships require depths of 50 feet making dredging as vital as paving highways.

Dredging involves the removal of sediments usually by means of a barge-borne crane fitted with a large clam-shell bucket.  The material removed include sediments that continuously settle through natural erosion processes and urban runoff. Dredged material management includes both the removal of excess sediment and the management of its placement.

Within the New York Harbor, sediment can consist of different geological types including sand and gravel, silt and clay and glacial till and rock. Sometimes sediments can become contaminated through the absorption of spilled chemicals and heavy metals in the waterways, creating challenges for the management of dredged material.  

Contamination of dredged sediment ranges on a continuum, with some material being very clean and some being polluted with various wastes. The more contaminated the sediment is, the more limited the options for management and the more costly management becomes.

While historically material dredged from port areas see relatively higher levels of contamination, much of dredged material within the New York Harbor can be reused beneficially in ways that are both safe and environmentally protective. Some examples of the diverse ways in which dredged material has been used include landfill and brownfield reclamation, habitat restoration, construction materials, and beach replenishment.

After the practice of ocean dumping of dredged material ended in the mid-1990s, the need to identify innovative ways to beneficially reuse dredged material became an economic priority.  NYCEDC, working with the Department of Environmental Protection, completed a pilot project at the Pennsylvania and Fountain Avenue Landfills in Brooklyn. 

The pilot project successfully demonstrated that dredged material when mixed with Portland Cement, could serve as a good “contour layer” as part of the landfills closure. This led to a partnership between NYCEDC and the Department of Sanitation allowing large-scale application at Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island. 

By December 2009, NYCEDC successfully completed the placement of nearly one million cubic yards of processed dredged material at Fresh Kills Landfill. The dredged material was generated by NYCEDC projects, projects around the region, as well as from the Army Corps of Engineer’s Harbor Deepening Project and was made possible through a Beneficial Use Determination (BUD) issued by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). The BUD allowed dredged material to be mixed with cement and placed as a below the liner alternate grading material. 

Beginning in 2010, Fresh Kills Landfill will gradually transform into a 2,200 acre public park (nearly three times the size of Central Park) to be enjoyed by NYC’s residents and visitors alike. 

The use of processed dredged material in closing Fresh Kills Landfill resulted in numerous additional benefits to NYC. New York taxpayers saved over $40,000 with the use of dredged material instead of conventional fill. Efficiently transporting this material by barge instead of trucks resulted in significant reductions in air pollution and diesel engine emissions by eliminating approximately 82,000 truck trips from local streets and roads.

NYCEDC continues to work towards making dredging economical for New York’s maritime businesses while also finding viable placement sites for its beneficial reuse.