en.Wedoany.com Reported - On May 14, 2026, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) officially released a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) seeking an operator for an all-electric and zero-emission container barge and tugboat service between the Red Hook Brooklyn Marine Terminal and a new terminal under construction in Hunts Point, South Bronx.
According to the RFEI issued by NYCEDC, the service must transport a minimum of 100 forty-foot refrigerated containers per voyage, with sufficient onboard electrical power to maintain continuous cooling throughout the entire journey. The Hunts Point terminal is designed to accommodate 150 forty-foot containers in each direction. The route intends to directly transport Caribbean and Latin American food imports arriving via the Brooklyn Marine Terminal to the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, which supplies approximately 12% of New York City's food.
Currently, these goods rely on truck transport after arriving at Port Newark or the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, with over 25,000 trucks crossing the George Washington Bridge and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge daily. NYCEDC data indicates that traffic congestion costs New York City over $20 billion in economic losses annually, and freight volumes are projected to grow by approximately 67% by 2045.
The Hunts Point terminal, occupying approximately 8 acres, is an all-electric facility built on the site of a decommissioned floating prison barge. It is scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2030, with the barge service launching concurrently. City officials estimate the new route could eliminate approximately 9,000 truck trips per month, generate an estimated $3.9 billion in economic impact over 30 years, and create 400 construction jobs and 100 permanent positions.
The RFEI requires respondents to detail battery capacity needs for round-trip voyages (including various load conditions), shoreside power facilities at both terminals, vessel dimensions, tugboat bollard pull, loading/unloading sequences, crew configurations, contract models, and compliance with "Made in America/Buy America" procurement requirements. NYCEDC stated that besides battery-electric solutions, it also accepts non-battery zero-emission propulsion technologies such as hydrogen. This barge service is the core project of NYCEDC's "Blue Highways" initiative, which aims to utilize the city's approximately 520 miles of navigable waterways for freight transport.
This project is part of the "Port of the Future" strategy, which includes transforming the 122-acre Brooklyn Marine Terminal into an all-electric port, supported by $418 million in city, state, and federal funding (including a $164 million federal grant). NYCEDC has committed to an immediate $18 million investment for terminal improvements, including $15 million for the purchase of an electric ship-to-shore crane and $2 million for fender repairs. A waterside transloading facility in Hunts Point, operated in partnership with Con Agg Global, has already begun handling aggregate cargo, estimated to eliminate approximately 1,000 truck trips per month from South Bronx streets.
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