Since starting service in April, about 325 containers have been barged between New York’s Port of Albany and New York harbor, circumventing the usual trucking route between the two cities.
The program was underwritten with a $3.3 million commitment from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. “We have a barge coming up each week now and we expect to increase that to twice weekly in the near future," Albany Mayor Gerald Jennings said in a written statement. So far, 200 barges have traveled north and 135 have floated south, downriver, to New York Harbor.
New Jersey-based Columbia Coastal, operates the 13 sea-going barges up and down the East Coast of the United States on a weekly basis.
According to Port Authority Chairman Joe Seymour, the goal of the Port Inland Distribution Network is to reduce traffic congestion in the New York/New Jersey area, take some truck traffic off the roads, and reduce air pollution.
