New York extends Howland Hook terminal lease

Under one agreement, New York City will extend the port authority’s lease for the 202-acre (81.7 ha) Howland Hook Terminal on Staten Island to June 30, 2058. The extension allows the port authority to maintain long-term strategic control of a container terminal within the port, to realise the benefit of previous investments, and to make a major capital investment of US$110m to benefit the terminal. The work will include repair projects and channel deepening.

Two years ago, the port authority completed its most recent major investment in the Howland Hook facility when it opened ExpressRail Staten Island, a US$26m ship-to-rail cargo transfer facility.

During its first year in 2008, the facility handled more than 44,000 containers by rail and removed approximately 70,000 trucks from the road. The rail facility required the reactivation of the Staten Island Railroad. It also required the rehabilitation of the Arthur Kill Lift Bridge and the construction of a rail link from the bridge to the Chemical Coast Line in New Jersey to allow cargo trains to have access to the national rail freight network.