New York City officials plan to turn six waterfront locations into maritime shipping hubs as a way to handle the booming number of e-commerce deliveries across the five boroughs.
Details of the initiative were published on Friday through a request for proposals by the city Economic Development Corporation. It marks the latest step in Mayor Eric Adams’ “Blue Highways” plan to shift more of the city’s freight off the streets and onto the rivers and harbors.
The request seeks an engineering firm to design barge landings and access points where e-bikes and small delivery vehicles can transport cargo for the “last mile” of its journey. The locations include:
- McGinnis Cement Terminal in the the Bronx’s Hunts Point neighborhood
- Stuyvesant Cove adjacent to StuyTown
- Pier 36 on the Lower East Side
- Downtown Manhattan Heliport in the Financial District
- The 23rd Street basin and 29th Street apron on Brooklyn’s Gowanus Bay
The EDC in its request estimates the plan would take 6,240 short-haul trucks off the streets, and states the city’s “overreliance on trucks negatively impacts air quality, traffic, quality of life and safety.” The plan would save more than 92 million miles of truck travel and 8.3 million gallons of fuel every year, according to the request.
Julie Tighe, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters, said in a statement that shifting freight to waterways would reduce air pollution — but warned it’s not totally environmentally friendly.
“Like most on-road transportation, freight boats run on some of the dirtiest fuels in the market,” said Tighe. “The only way to meet our emissions reductions goals is by passing a clean fuel standard at the state level, which would put a serious dent in our emissions output nd result in cleaner are for New Yorkers on day one.”
The release of the EDC’s plan comes less than a month after the mayor proposed a new government agency to rein in delivery companies like Amazon. A report published by the city…
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