Older infrastructure poses barriers to getting monster ships to port
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The Bayonne Bridge has stood high over the Kill van Kull strait between New Jersey and New York’s Staten Island since 1931, but not high enough to accommodate the new megaships.
The Port of Authority of New York and New Jersey said on its website that while the bridge “remains a marvel of 20th century engineering … the original roadway, 151 feet above mean high water, prevents the new generation of 21st century container ships … from passing under the bridge to reach our marine terminals.”
The agency said its “Raise the Roadway” project replaced the original roadway with one that is 215 feet above the Kill van Kull.
The elevated roadway opened to traffic on Feb. 20, 2017, and the Port Authority said that “newer, larger vessels, with cleaner and more efficient engines calling on our port ultimately will displace the need for multiple smaller vessel calls, and that will mean cleaner air for our neighbors.”
Proponents of megaships often cite economic and environmental benefits as reasons for deploying the massive vessels. But insurance experts express concern about the strain these vessels can put on ports.
“We’re looking at ports now having to dredge for the drag,” said Andrew Kinsey, New York-based senior marine risk consultant for Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty S.E. “We’re seeing the Bayonne Bridge having to be raised. We’re seeing ports having to do dredging on their berths, they have to get new cranes, yet we still have to land these ships in the same container yard.”
A spokesman for Geneva-based MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co. S.A. said in an email that MSC, which has investments in 53 port terminals, is continuing to upgrade its fleet in terms of vessel size and environmental performance and “expects port operators to keep pace with this trend in order to guarantee that we will continue to use their facilities.”
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