The South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) is an
intermodal shipping, warehousing, and manufacturing complex in the
Port of New York and New Jersey
The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
It includes the system of navigable wate ...
. It is located along the
Upper New York Bay
New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...
, between 29th and 39th Streets in the
Sunset Park and
Greenwood Heights neighborhoods of
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
The site is adjacent to
Bush Terminal and Industry City, which respectively lie directly to the south and east. A recycling and
waste transfer facility managed by
Sims Metal Management is the major tenant. In May 2018, the city contracted partners to activate the largely unused terminal.
Early ferry service
The New York and South Brooklyn Ferry operated a
ferry
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...
from the
Battery Maritime Building
The Battery Maritime Building is a building at South Ferry on the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City. Located at 10 South Street, near the intersection with Whitehall Street, it contains an operational ferry terminal at ground ...
(formerly known as Municipal Ferry Pier) to the
South Brooklyn
South Brooklyn is a historic term for a section of the former City of Brooklyn – now the New York City borough of Brooklyn – encompassing what are now the Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope, Windsor Ter ...
/39th Street Ferry Terminal, where rail transfer (to the
South Brooklyn Railway
The South Brooklyn Railway is a railroad in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is owned by the City of New York and operated by the New York City Transit Authority. Its original main line ran parallel to 38th Street from the Upper New Y ...
) was possible until 1935.
Formerly, a
Staten Island Ferry
The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry route operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. The ferry's single route runs through New York Harbor between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island, with ferry ...
route ran between the ferry slip at 39th Street within Bush Terminal, and the
St. George Terminal in
Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey b ...
. The ferry route was discontinued in 1946 after a fire at St. George Terminal.
Rail service
Adjacent to the
Bush Terminal it is served by
car float
A railroad car float or rail barge is a specialised form of lighter with railway tracks mounted on its deck used to move rolling stock across water obstacles, or to locations they could not otherwise go. An unpowered barge, it is towed by a t ...
and
transloading
Transloading, also known as cross-docking, is the process of transferring a shipment from one mode of transportation to another. It is most commonly employed when one mode cannot be used for the entire trip, such as when goods must be shipped i ...
activities of
New York New Jersey Rail via the
65th Street Yard which also connects to the
Bay Ridge Branch
The Bay Ridge Branch is a rail line owned by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and operated by the New York and Atlantic Railway in New York City. It is the longest freight-only line of the LIRR, connecting the Montauk Branch and CSX Transporta ...
, operated by the
New York Connecting Railroad. Rail infrastructure improvements along 1st Avenue completed in 2012 connected the yard to SBMT. Other investments in infrastructure included a new break-bulk rail spur along the 39th Street shed, two new rail sidings for
auto rack
An autorack, also known as an auto carrier (also car transporter outside the US), is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks. Autoracks are used to transport new vehicles from factories to ...
transloading
Transloading, also known as cross-docking, is the process of transferring a shipment from one mode of transportation to another. It is most commonly employed when one mode cannot be used for the entire trip, such as when goods must be shipped i ...
, and a new rail connection to the SIMS facility at the 29th Street Pier. SBMT is also connected along the
South Brooklyn Railway
The South Brooklyn Railway is a railroad in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is owned by the City of New York and operated by the New York City Transit Authority. Its original main line ran parallel to 38th Street from the Upper New Y ...
(ROW) to
36th–38th Street Yard
The New York City Transit Authority operates a total of 24 rail yards for the New York City Subway system, and one for the Staten Island Railway. There are 10 active A Division yards and 11 active B Division yards, two of which are shared betwe ...
. In 2012, the interchange with
New York New Jersey Rail, LLC at Second Avenue was refurbished and a new ramp was installed at the 38th Street Yard at Fourth Avenue to allow receipt of new
R156 locomotives and other
subway rolling stock that are delivered on flat cars.
Waste management
Sims Metal Management subsidiary Sims Municipal Recycling (SMR) managed construction of a new 11-acre recycling center at SBMT from 2010 to 2013. SMR worked with geotechnical engineers to develop structural fill blends using “mole rock” from NYC tunneling projects mixed with recycled glass aggregate (RGA). More than 5,000 tons of RGA were blended with 20,000 tons of mole rock and used to elevate sections of the site by 4 feet, thereby protecting buildings and equipment against sea level rise and storm surges.
Wind turbines
In January 2015, SIMS inaugurated the city's only commercial-scale
wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...
at the recycling center. Built by
Northern Power Systems at the cost of about $750,000, the tall turbine has the capacity to produce 100 kilowatts, or 4% of the center's power needs.
In January 2021, NY Governor
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
announced that the site would be developed to include a wind turbine assembly plant to be partially funded by New York State. Turbines manufactured there will be used in constructing three
offshore wind farms off the east end of Long Island.
South Fork Wind Farm, Beacon Wind and Sunrise Wind are projected to be supplied by 2025 from the new plant, built with $200 million in state funding and $200 million in matching grants. Part of a $29 billion 'Green Initiative' plan for NYS. The project is expected to create 1,200 new manufacturing jobs in Sunset Park.
Auto processing
Auto processing, the customization of imported automobiles, is done at the terminal at a scaled-down assembly plant where much of the work is done by hand using simple tools. Quality control inspections are done, repairs are made, and accessories – such as floor mats, GPS systems, satellite radios, alloy wheels and roof racks – are installed. The facility at SBMT was operated by the Axis Group. which filed bankruptcy in 2012. Plans by the
New York City Economic Development Corporation
New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is a nonprofit corporation whose stated mission is to "leverage the city’s assets to create beneficial jobs that drive growth. This ensures equitable and sustainable development across al ...
(NYCEDC) to redevelop and expand the auto processing have been bogged down since 2014.
Sustainable South Brooklyn Marine Terminal
The SBMT was designated as part of
America's Marine Highway in 2015. In 2018, Sustainable South Brooklyn Marine Terminal
(SSBMT) was established and operations turned over the
Red Hook Container Terminal
The Red Hook Marine Terminal is an intermodal freight transport facility that includes a container terminal located on the Upper New York Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The maritime facility in Red Hook section of Brooklyn, New York ...
operators.
35th Street pier fire (1956)
On December 3, 1956, the area was the site of one of the largest explosions in New York City history. A fire on the Luckenbach Pier at the end of 35th St reached 37,000 pounds of highly explosive
Primacord, resulting in an explosion that killed 10 people and injured 247.
See also
*
List of North American ports
Lists of ports cover ports of various types, maritime facilities with one or more wharves where ships may dock to load and discharge passengers and cargo.
Most are on the sea coast or an estuary, but some are many miles inland, with access to t ...
*
List of ports in the United States
*
Red Hook Container Terminal
The Red Hook Marine Terminal is an intermodal freight transport facility that includes a container terminal located on the Upper New York Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The maritime facility in Red Hook section of Brooklyn, New York ...
*
Rail freight transportation in New York City and Long Island
From the start of railroading in America through the first half of the 20th century, New York City and Long Island were major areas for rail freight transportation. However, their relative isolation from the mainland United States has always pose ...
* Tugboats in New York City
*
Vision 2020: New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan
References
{{Brooklyn
Transportation buildings and structures in Brooklyn
Ports and harbors of New York (state)
Railway freight terminals in the United States
Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Port of New York and New Jersey
Wind power in New York (state)