By The Garden State Gazette

THE NEW BARONS is a Garden State Gazette series documenting modern power in New Jersey—who controls the engines (land, logistics, capital, contracts, talent), how that control is built, and what it costs the places underneath it. These are not profiles. They are power maps.

The Hook: New Jersey’s Crown Is a Stack of Steel Boxes

If you want to understand who runs modern New Jersey, stop looking for mansions.

Look for containers.
Look for gates.
Look for the Turnpike exits that never sleep.

Because the Port Newark–Elizabeth complex isn’t just infrastructure—
it’s a kingdom.

And its rulers aren’t a single family name.
They’re a system of gatekeepers, operators, dispatchers, and policy levers—built on the simplest power on Earth:

moving everything.

The Origin Story: The Day the World Got Rewritten

On August 15, 1962, the Port Authority opened the Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal, described by the agency as the world’s first container port. Port Authority NY-NJ+1

That’s not trivia. That’s a pivot point.

Because containerization didn’t just improve shipping—
it changed what “power” looks like:

• from factories → to corridors
• from production → to movement
• from local bosses → to global supply chain control

The Numbers: This Is What Dominance Looks Like

In 2024, the Port of New York and New Jersey handled about 8.7 million TEUs, one of the busiest years on record. Port Authority NY-NJ+1

In May 2025, the Port Authority said the port was the nation’s busiest cargo gateway for that month. Port Authority NY-NJ

Translation: this isn’t a side story. This is a main artery.

The Barons (People, Not Vibes)

1) The Gatekeepers: The Port Authority

Every kingdom has a gate.

Here, the gate is the Port Authority of NY/NJ—the entity that owns/controls the seaport ecosystem and publishes the official volumes and policy frameworks that determine what gets prioritized. Port Authority NY-NJ+1

This is modern power: not a “boss” with a cigar—
but a public authority that decides:

• capacity upgrades
• access rules
• capital projects
• policy and compliance pressure

And the gatekeeper’s most underrated weapon is clearance.

The Port Authority notes that in 2024, nearly 70% of arriving cargo came on ships that wouldn’t have fit under the Bayonne Bridge before the bridge clearance program. Port Authority NY-NJ

That’s how empires shift:
not with speeches—
with engineering.

2) The Terminal Lords: The Operators Who Touch the Boxes

In this kingdom, the crown jewels are terminals.

The Port Authority lists major container terminals/operators in the port complex—names that matter because they control the cranes, yards, and throughput: Maher Terminals, APM Terminals, Port Newark Container Terminal (PNCT), and others. PNCT+3Port Authority NY-NJ+3APM Terminals+3

These are the barons who decide how fast freight moves from:
ship → crane → stack → gate → rail/truck.

They don’t need to run City Hall.
They run velocity.

3) The Drayage Class: The Men Who Move the Kingdom by the Mile

The port doesn’t “work” without the truck layer.

And here’s where power gets sharp: the drayage ecosystem is massive, but it sits right up against neighborhoods that feel every idle minute.

A Rutgers-backed effort documented how heavy diesel truck traffic from the port was cutting through a residential neighborhood in Elizabeth (in part to avoid Turnpike tolls), contributing to local air-quality impacts—work that helped support the city’s move to ban large trucks on that street. Rutgers University

The port kingdom makes money by moving.
The surrounding cities pay in noise, traffic, and air.

That’s not a moral claim. That’s the design.

4) The Policy Enforcers: “Clean” Rules That Also Decide Who Stays in Business

Modern barons don’t just build. They filter.

The Port Authority’s Truck Replacement Program and related rules tighten who can service the port—e.g., restrictions tied to older engine model years and program requirements. Port Authority NY-NJ+1

On paper, it’s public health and emissions.

In practice, it also reshapes the workforce:

• who can afford newer equipment
• who gets pushed out
• who consolidates market share

Even academic work has examined port-adjacent air pollution patterns and “cleaner truck” program effects in disadvantaged neighborhoods. ScienceDirect

This is what “modern power” looks like:
regulation + capital costs = a new hierarchy.

What This Kingdom Produces (Besides Freight)

The port isn’t just containers. It’s a regional economic engine.

A 2025 economic impact study released via the Shipping Association of NY/NJ reports the port industry supported hundreds of thousands of jobs and generated tens of billions in income and billions in tax revenue tied to 2024 activity. NYS Shipping Association+1

That’s why every political era ends up orbiting the port.

Because whoever controls the gateway controls the argument.

What to Watch Next

1) Bigger ships = bigger stakes. Clearance and channel capacity shape who wins trade. Port Authority NY-NJ
2) Clean-truck enforcement = a reshuffled drayage class. Port Authority NY-NJ+1
3) Neighborhood pressure will keep rising. The closer you live to the gates, the more the system touches you. Rutgers University+1

Closing: The New Barons Don’t Wear Crowns

Port Newark–Elizabeth is the clearest truth in New Jersey right now:

The old barons built factories.
The new barons build corridors.

They don’t need statues.
They have schedules.
They have gates.
They have leverage that shows up at 3 a.m. under floodlights—
when the rest of the state is asleep.