"With the forecast for continued cargo growth, we are looking to the future with this initiative," Codey related at a press conference at the Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal here. "The increased traffic translates into greater activity for industries relying on our port, including trucking and distribution."

Part of the scenario, as well, is a massive $1.6 billion dredging program that by 2014 will have deepened all of the port's channels to 50 feet, allowing for more and ever-larger container ships. And the Port Authority of NY/NJ, which operates the facilities, has announced that it will invest $600 million over the next decade to build new rail facilities to help ease highway congestion caused by trucking.

The sites the state is looking at for its Portfields Initiative are in Hudson, Union, Middlesex, Essex and Bergen counties. Among them are former DuPont and Englehard plants in Newark; the former Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne, a major portion of which is already being redeveloped; the former Chevron refinery in Perth Amboy; and the 40-acre Bendix site, currently owned by Honeywell, in Teterboro.