Port Newark Container Terminal (PNCT), jointly operated by Ports America and MSC’s ports arm TIL at the Port of New York and New Jersey, has recently introduced a truck slot reservation program. The new “FLEX Services” program allows terminal’s clients who pay USD 95.50 per container to be serviced first when PNCT opens at 6am. The program is available to all truckers on a 100% voluntary basis and provides for only 50 slots each gate day.
Further on, PNCT intends to implement an additional option for truckers to reserve a possibility to pick up or deliver a reefer container after PNCT’s reefer cutoff time of 4:30pm for USD 80.
By introducing “FLEX Services” PNCT aims to help its clients “handle unpredictable or changing requirements of their customers as well as save money and/or time”, as the terminal operator informs on its website. Trucking companies can make payments and secure a slot through a mobile phone or a computer.
The system, which has been introduced this week, is the first of its kind at the NY/NJ port, where PNCT is one of the four main container terminals.
“FLEX Services” comes as the US East Coast’s third-largest port seeks ways to reduce congestion and turn times at its terminals anticipating more cargo volumes in shorter, intense bursts as a result of increasingly frequent mega-vessel calls.
However, in early January 2017, Global Container Terminals Bayonne (GCT Bayonne) terminal already launched a truck reservation system, whereby trucks must make an appointment in advance to enter the terminal. GCT Bayonne reports that the newly implemented system has improved truck turn times by 41%, down to under an hour, allowing about 300 transactions per hour. Today, over 50% of all daily gate visits are executed at the terminal under the new reservation system.
Now that this system has proved itself, two other terminals at the NY/NJ port – APM Terminals and PNCT – are considering its implementation after completing their gate upgrades, possibly this year.