Giving the annual State of the Port address, Bethann Rooney, the port director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, recalled 2024 saying: “Just as you think there’s nothing else that can go wrong and you’ve experienced it all, we get hit with something that we never even thought about in our wildest dreams.”

2024 was a tumultuous year that saw a labor disruption for East Coast and Gulf ports, the temporary closure of an important peer port due to a bridge collapse and myriad ecological and geopolitical issues. In addition to navigating the year’s challenges, the Port of New York and New Jersey also moved forward on several long-planned major growth and productivity projects.

“As in past years, each and every partner, stakeholder, customer, of the port stepped up and did whatever was necessary to get things done and keep commerce moving,” Rooney said. She attributed much of the cooperative spirit to the innovative Council on Port Performance, which celebrated 10 years of collaboration last year.

That cooperation was on display following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse near the Port of Baltimore, when shippers, dock workers and auto processors quickly jumped into action to take in additional cargo destined for that port, and again months later following the three-day International Longshoremen’s Association strike in early October. Within a week, all delayed cargo was offloaded and operations rapidly returned to normal levels.

Both occurred amidst a backdrop of continued challenges around the Panama and Suez canals, with the former related to drought restrictions and the latter related to attacks on container ship routes.

In spite of those numerous hurdles, the port’s cargo-handling performance was its third-busiest year on record. The Port of New York moved 8.7 million TEUs, an 11% jump from 2023 and behind only the pandemic-driven cargo levels seen across 2021 and 2022.

Rooney noted 2024’s volume was 5% above the agency’s 2019 projections as part of the Port Master Plan 2050, which forecasted steady growth enroute to a doubling or tripling of the port’s cargo volume by 2050.

In preparing for that future, the Port signed an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in May 2024 to study the deepening of the port’s navigational channels to 55 feet, which would help accommodate the industry’s ever-growing ships. The port’s wharf rehabilitation program also got underway to repair decades-old wharf structures for terminal expansions on the horizon.

On land, the agency’s planned major overhaul of the northern entrance of the Newark-Elizabeth port complex advanced in 2024 with the demolition of the ramp from Port Street to Corbin Street. Truck traffic was detoured to a route that featured expanded roadways and safety measures. The new ramp, set to open by the end of 2025, will include a safer turning radius while accommodating more traffic than the previous midcentury structure.

In 2025, the Port Authority is working on lease negotiations that will pave the way for expanded operations and investments from its port operating partners. It will also begin disbursing funds from its historic Clean Ports Program federal grant, enabling major steps in the port’s future to incorporate cleaner and greener operations with more collaboration from the surrounding community.

Four new electric truck chargers will open to advance more sustainable truck operations at the port, and work will advance on the Southbound Connector intermodal project to add more flexibility into the port’s ExpressRail system and make freight rail a more attractive option.

At the prior year’s State of the Port event, Rooney posited that 2024 might give a chance for the industry to catch its collective breath after the roller coaster ride of the pandemic. This time, with 2024’s many curveballs behind her, she refrained from making more predictions.

“Who knows what 2025 is going to bring,” Rooney said.