Port Authority Reports Record Cargo, Passenger Volume in November

NEW YORK CITY—The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reports it amassed record cargo and passenger levels at its airports and ports in New York and New Jersey during the month of November.

The Port of New York and New Jersey handled a record 599,626 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) in November 2019, a 4 % increase over the previous November 2018 record of 583,880 TEUs. The Port Authority’s ExpressRail system also set a monthly record, handling 54,096 containers in November 2019 compared to the previous November record of 53,609 containers in 2018.

Earlier this year, the Port Authority reported that high growth in cargo volume ranked the New York-New Jersey ports as the number two port in the nation measured by loaded containers. The port surpassed Long Beach, CA as the nation’s second busiest port. Los Angeles continues to be the top port in the US.

On pace to break 2018’s record passenger loads, John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia Airport and New York Stewart International Airport experienced a record-setting November, with a cumulative total of more than 11 million passengers. By the end of 2019, an estimated annual record of approximately 142 million passengers will have traveled through the airports. Furthermore, JFK, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia airports also set monthly records individually for passenger volume in November 2019.

In November, PATH handled a weekday passenger average of 290,130 during the month, the second highest November monthly average weekday ridership on record. There were five weekdays in November 2019 when the daily ridership exceeded 300,000 passengers.

In November, the Goethals Bridge set a new monthly record with 1,426,000 eastbound vehicles handled, besting the previous November’s record of 1,412,000. As a whole, the Staten Island Bridges system also established a November best, reporting a record 2,977,000 vehicles, a 4% increase over the previous record set in 2018.

The record activity was propelled by record volume at the Goethals Bridge and the resumption of normal weekend traffic at the Bayonne Bridge following the conclusion of weekend closures tied to the wind-down of the Bayonne Bridge Navigational Clearance Project.