NYC launches ‘Blue Highways’ water freight test pilot

NYC DOT Commissioner Rodriguez announcing the start of the Blue Highways pilot at Pier 79 in Manhattan. Photo: NYC DOT

RED HOOK — NEW YORK CITY has launched a marine-freight pilot between Manhattan’s Pier 79 and the Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Red Hook as an initial foray into its planned Blue Highways program, NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, NYC Economic Development Corporation President Andrew Kimball, NY Waterway and DutchX announced Thursday.

Blue Highways envisions using the city’s waterways for local and regional movement of goods, reducing congestion on roadways and adding resiliency to the supply chain, officials said. Despite New York City’s historic roots as a port, today nearly 90% of goods moving into and through the city travel by truck. The effort builds on the recent passage of the BMT Vision Plan approved by the BMT Task Force in September, the NYCEDC said.

The pilot route runs from Atlantic Basin in Red Hook to Pier 79. DutchX will begin transporting 300 to 400 parcels per day from a ferry onto five electric pedal-assist cargo bikes, with operations to gradually increase. The goods transported include cosmetics, fashion, lifestyle and small household products.

“When we move goods by water and deliver them by sustainable modes of transportation like cargo bikes, everyone wins — our streets, our air, and our neighborhoods,” Rodriguez said in a release. “New York City was built on its waterways and, through the Blue Highways program, we’re taking advantage of them once again,” said Kimball.

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