The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has launched a new program to boost the already-bustling auto business at its shipping terminals.At a board meeting Wednesday, the agency approved a five-year incentive program to attract new automotive manufacturers to the port, according to a news release. Under the program, companies that are new to the harbor would get 50 percent discount on the per-vehicle charge they pay to use the Port Authority’s wharves.
The discount would apply to the first year the company participates in the incentive program, the bistate agency said in a news release. The authority did not specify what the charge is or it is calculated.
The program also calls for a “financial incentive” for existing automakers to increase their shipping volume,” the Port Authority said. The incentive would apply to all eligible vehicles that exceed the manufacturer’s 2013 volume at the port by more than 3 percent, which is the baseline growth the agency has projected.
The move is designed to generate new revenue to a port that is already the largest importer and export of automobiles in the U.S., the agency said, citing its location and proximity to the nation’s largest consumer market. In 2013, the port moved more than 745,000 new and used vehicles, but the authority noted the total is down from the peak in 2007 of more than 1 million vehicles shipped.
In calendar year 2015, new and existing automotive manufacturers will need to exceed their previous year total of eligible vehicles by 1 percent in order to receive the incentive. The threshold for the remaining years of the program, which runs through 2018, will be reset using the same protocol established for 2015 — meaning it must be 1 percent higher than the prior year’s volume or threshold of eligible vehicles.
An eligible vehicle is defined as an individual automobile or truck, the news release said.
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