While City Council Member Carlos Menchaca (D-Sunset Park, Red Hook) is dragging his feet on upzoning Industry City, which could bring thousands of jobs to Sunset Park, he remains a cheerleader for the Red Hook Container Terminal, which brings no local jobs to the community.
Currently, the Red Hook Container Terminal (RHCT) is privately operating on a five-year contract with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ). The 80-acre port includes a 5,500-foot berth and depth of 42 feet.
According to Port Authority’s Master Plan 2050– announced on July 9 of this year— the Brooklyn Port Authority Marine Terminal (PAMT) is currently at less than 5% capacity. The remainder of the capacity (75–80%) is across the river in New Jersey, at Port Newark and Elizabeth PAMT. The RHCT claims to have seen increased cargo traffic in recent years, however, many also believe the port is losing money.
Menchaca praises the RHCT, and believes it does a lot of good for the community.
“The Red Hook Container Terminal is very active with plans to grow. While RHCT handles a small percentage of the overall New Jersey-New York cargo, having a terminal in Red Hook is great for Brooklyn. Aside from good-paying jobs, receiving cargo to the terminal reduces truck traffic in our tunnels and across our bridges,” said Menchaca.
According to Menchaca, the terminal currently employs “roughly 400 hard-working people.” Menchaca believes with more goods moving through the port, the terminal should become a good source for “family paying jobs” and “employing local residents.”
But in a recent KCP site visit to the terminal, RHCT Accounting Manager Manny Arocho said the port employs 100-150 people at a time– depending on the workload presented that week. Arocho also shared that all but 12 employees on-site, are unionized.
Arocho also said the terminal has to “diversify the space, in order to generate income.” They maximize the space by renting out to third parties such as gravel and garbage customers. Arocho also said he believes the terminal is making money, “but not as much as they would like.”
Among the critics of the terminal is Red Hook Initiative Chief Strategy Officer Javier Lopez. Lopez believes the port provides no community engagement and hires no local employees.
“We want inclusion. They have no community engagement,” said Lopez. “There hasn’t been a concerted effort— making sure that the public housing community is engaged. No local hiring.”
Lopez also expressed confusion regarding the future of the port. “I would love someone from the Port Authority to give the Red Hook Public Housing and communities of color a break down of what the 50-year plan is. When they say local jobs, what does local mean?”
According to the Port Authority Master Plan, the continuation and growth of the cargo activity in Red Hook requires additional work. The plan states: “The continuation and growth of marine cargo activity at the Brooklyn Port Authority Marine Terminal (BPAMT) in Red Hook will require additional investment in infrastructure improvements and an exploration of ways to improve the facility’s capacity on a constrained footprint with no intermodal rail connectivity.”
According to JOC.com, an online industry publication covering the cargo and shipping sector, there is a clause in the terminal’s five-year lease that allows the authority to terminate the agreement on a two-year’s notice. However, this termination cannot be before October 1, 2021. Furthermore, a second clause allows the authority to “shrink the existing Red Hook footprint on one year’s notice.”
Meanwhile, Arocho said the RHCT is in a partnership deal with Industry City to open up the Brooklyn marine terminal on 39th street. “We’re in the works of signing a 37-year lease with them, and that should be done any day now,” he said.
This deal comes as Menchaca continues to hedge on rezoning Industry City. The rezoning looks to allow the complex to add a hotel, large scale retail, and academic facilities. Industry City officials say that expansion is expected to bring 15,000 new jobs and millions more in revenue for the community.
No matter what happens to the Sunset Park waterfront, Menchaca remains adamant that the Red Hook Container Terminal stays open and not be developed for other uses such as much needed affordable housing.
“The RHCT should remain an active, maritime port. I fought hard when first elected to stop the Port Authority of NY/NJ and the City of New York from selling the site or developing it for uses other than maritime industry,” said Menchaca.
“It’s clear that Red Hook residents want to keep jobs here, and I am supported by Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and Congressman Jerrold Nadler, who have both championed the preservation of Brooklyn’s working waterfront,” he added.
