Port Of Albany Proposes Revived Barge Service

Port activity in what is today known as the Port of Albany-Rensselaer in upper reaches of the Hudson River dates back to 1624, when it was founded as a trading post. The current port was built in 1932 under the governorship of Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Depression. It included the largest grain elevator in the world at the time. Today it remains the largest grain elevator east of the Mississippi River; the port also boasts the tallest harbor crane in the state of New York.

Now, partly in response to the logistics backups being experienced everywhere, the Port of Albany has a plan to revive a barge service that was shut down in 2007. According to the Albany Times-Union, the port is looking to revive a discontinued barge service. The port previously ran the service from 2005 to 2007 but shut it down when there wasn’t enough export business to make it sustainable.

Richard Hendricks, the port’s executive director, said the route needs southbound traffic to make it viable. The proposed service would allow containers arriving in ports in New Jersey and New York City to be transferred to barges and brought up to Albany to be unloaded to different modes. The port’s director of business development, Tony Vasil, said his team had met with officials of New York’s Port Authority. Vasil said he believes cargo revenues alone could sustain the venture this time.