With the US inland supply chain in the spotlight, APM Terminals (APMT) Elizabeth is looking to use its first port of call momentum to expand intermodal cargo volumes to and from the Midwest and Canada.
Using a direct-to-rail landing zone section on the terminal during vessel discharge operations, the facility can expedite rail cargo to its near dock rail facility on average 12 hours after discharge.
Once cargo arrives at the Millennium Marine Rail-operated terminal (an APMT joint venture), teams work on the 18 track operation building double-stack trains for handoff to three Class I railroads (CSX, NS, CN) that take it to inland markets two to four days away.
On the return trip, trains carrying US exports call the terminal for loading on vessels, ensuring a smooth roundtrip railcar flow.
Jon Poelma, Managing Director of APMT Elizabeth said, “Rail carriers are benefitting from the strong import and export market as they see their intermodal cargo volumes continue to grow. Locomotive and railcar availability throughout the pandemic has been steady and reliable.”
Sam Ruda, Director of the Port of New York and New Jersey stated, “Being the first port of call for the majority of US East Coast-bound ocean carriers is a huge benefit and value for customers and partners of the Port of New York and New Jersey because we have the ability to move a container off a vessel to major inland markets before the vessel even leaves our port.”
“The coordination between our marine terminal operators, Class 1 railroad partners and Conrail has kept our ExpressRail system fluid and efficient during the record-breaking cargo surge facing ports nationwide, giving us the ability to flex cargo capacity whenever the need arises.”
Recently, the operator completed a YS$200m infrastructure investment, which featured new ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, modernized IT systems and new truck gates.
To achieve safer operations, the terminal rolled out artificial intelligence to trigger a notification to the terminal safety team to respond to the trucker location when a trucker steps out of the truck.
APMT Elizabeth has also rolled out an appointment visibility app as well as a mandatory driver induction app to ensure driver safety awareness policies on the terminal for truckers.
