City Kickstarts Cargo Deliveries at Two Downtown Piers
The administration of Mayor Eric Adams is expanding its Blue Highways initiative to move freight traffic off New York City streets and onto adjacent waterways, with two Lower Manhattan piers in the first round of locations selected to receive boats carrying cargo. Building on a November announcement that a logistics center for marine freight deliveries would be built at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport (located on the East River waterfront at Pier 6, three blocks north of the Battery Maritime Building), the City issued a request for proposals (RFP) in early February to add a second Lower Manhattan facility for marine deliveries at Pier 36 (on the East River, near Montgomery Street).
The February RFP (which includes four other riverfront sites—two in Manhattan, and one each in Brooklyn and the Bronx)—seeks consultants to design the facilities needed at the dock to transfer cargo onto “last mile” conveyances, such as commercial cargo bikes. This initiative is being bankrolled by a $5.2-million allocation that City received in 2021 from the federal Department of Transportation, which is set aside to create new landings at which boats will dock and prepare cargo for “hyper-local” delivery.
“Similar to ferry landings, the project would install floating platforms with appropriate tie-up and vessel docking hardware to successfully secure vessels and allow for unloading via crane, hand truck, “eBike”, or motorized vehicle,” the RFP explains.
The two sites in Lower Manhattan (as well as the others) were chosen because of previously demonstrated interest by private cargo companies and maritime operators to serve local customers by water.
“These sites represent the origin and destination nodes on an emerging marine highway network that connects distribution areas to consumption areas within the City,” the RFP continues. “Once established, activity at these nodes can be expanded to link to other sites within the City and to locations in other boroughs and neighboring states. The types of cargo that would be carried once the improvements are completed include eCommerce packages, food and beverages, construction materials and other consumer goods.”
Currently, almost 90 percent of the City’s goods are moved into and around New York by truck, which intensifies traffic congestion, increases pollution, and harms the quality of life in residential communities. Diesel vehicles are also responsible for roughly half of on‐road tailpipe emissions in New York City. Taking delivery trucks off the road by replacing them with boats and bikes will mitigate these detriments.
What’s more, the RFP notes, “fabricating, placing, and installing marine infrastructure can be done quicker than land‐based infrastructure in congested areas.” As an example, it cites the NYC Ferry program, for which “construction of 24 ferry landings was completed within one year. This project would install similar infrastructure of waterborne freight and can be implemented in a similar timeframe.”