New York Harbor
Taking Measure
By Don Sutherland
It's fashionable to say that New York Harbor died in the 1970s, but it's not entirely accurate. According to the Maritime Support Services study released last spring by the city's Economic Development Corporation (EDC), the part of the Port under municipal jurisdiction has been growing. If anything, at a time when dockage is sparse, it's growing too quickly. But nobody's complaining. The study finds the harbor generating huge revenue, supporting massive numbers of jobs, leveraging the region's prominence as a hub of trade. It is in the city's interest, said the City's deal-maker, to consider the value of tug-
boats and barges, lighters and cranes, docks and shipyards to the city as a whole. City planners are informed by studies and the last comprehensive harbor study dates back to 1991. Materials from that era were "used extensively by the Port Authority, the State of New Jersey, and the City of New York," said the EDC's Andrew Genn, Vice President, Maritime Division. "And their analysis was really good for a 10-year planning horizon," he added. "So it badly needed to be updated. And that's why EDC took it on. We knew there had been significant changes in the maritime industry in New York Harbor, and we wanted to under-
Gladsky Marine's heavy lift crane ties-up in Erie Basin, yet serves the entire region. It's shown here on Long Island Sound, raising a barge that went down in a storm last spring. What if there were no mooring for such a giant? (Photo: Don Sutherland)
40 MN
March 2009