The Port of New York and New Jersey will use half of a $5 million government grant to add electric-powered yard tractors at its Red Hook Container Terminal as part of an effort to cut pollution and congestion. 

Ten yard tractors, known as hostlers, could be in place at Red Hook’s Port Newark facility in June if talks to secure the funds from New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection are completed this week or next. Climate Change Mitigation Technologies, which developed the hostler program for Red Hook, is negotiating the final agreement with the state agency. 

The hostlers will move container cargo that arrives and departs at Port Newark as part of the marine highway program that transports containers to and from Red Hook’s Brooklyn terminal across the New York Harbor to Port Newark, said James Sherman, chief operations officer for Climate Change Mitigation Technologies. The terminal is also looking for funds on the New York side of the harbor to help buy electric yard tractors in Brooklyn, he said.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, like officials at other urban US ports, has placed a priority on reducing pollution. A key element of that effort has been to remove older trucks from the port, and reduce truck trips by using train and barge to carry increasing volumes of cargo. New York-New Jersey’s master plan for the next 30 years, released in July, calls for the port to “incorporate the latest technologies to reduce or eliminate emissions [and] adopt electric and low-energy operations at facilities.”

Asked about the use of electric trucks, Rick Cotton, the authority’s executive director, told JOC.com two weeks ago the port would “love to see that increase.” He added that the authority is exploring what infrastructure would be needed to provide power for the trucks.

New Jersey’s DEP is funding the purchase of the tractors by using some of the $72 million awarded to the state under the settlement with Volkswagen over its fraudulent claims about the emissions from its diesel car engines. The agency also awarded $1.17 million to Hudson County Motors to buy four electric drayage trucks, which will be leased or sold to truckers in New York and New Jersey, and $262,500 to International Motor Freight, a drayage company in Port Newark. The department previously awarded $1.19 million  to Best Transportation, also of Newark, to buy four electric yard tractors.

Under the program, all of the vehicles must replace existing older, polluting vehicles, Sherman said.

In August, Best Transportation completed the port’s first delivery by a zero-emission electric truck, during a test of the truck. The trucker, which already has an order for an electric truck built by Tesla, is mulling whether to buy one from manufacturer BYD.

For his part, Contact Hugh R. Morley at Hugh.Morley@ihsmarkit.com and follow him on Twitter: @HughRMorley1.

Source: http://www.joc.com