The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) has announced the completion of infrastructure upgrades at the port of Boston’s Paul W. Conley Container Terminal.
Boston’s box terminal will now offer direct connectivity to China, North Europe, Southeast Asia including Vietnam and India, the Mediterranean, Middle East and Latin America through five services, with a sixth service scheduled to start in October, while it offered only two services before the improvement plan. Additionally, the terminal increases its global port connectivity, from seven to 25 ports.
“With a deepened Boston Harbor and modern container facilities, the Port of Boston is providing greater global connections for Massachusetts businesses and supporting thousands of jobs,” said Massport CEO, Lisa Wieland.
The upgrade plan for the port of Boston cost approximately US$250 million and was supported by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, federal and local partners.
The completed infrastructure projects include the Butler Freight corridor, a dedicated truck route to keep container trucks off residential roadways and allow trucks to access the highway system in minutes, a new 15-metre-deep berth, to accommodate the new cranes and larger vessels and three ship-to-shore cranes to serve boxships carrying up to 14,000 TEUs.
Moreover, the Boston Harbor Dredging project has been completed deepening the main ship channel and Reserved Channel to -47 feet (14.3 metres) and the outer harbor to -51 feet (15.5 metres), and expanding the Turning Basin for larger vessels.
Other terminal improvements that have also been completed include new rubber-tire gantry cranes, expanded container storage and new refrigerated container racks.
At the same time, there are several projects that are underway and are expected to enhance the port of Boston infrastructure, increase its container storage and handling capacity and upgrade port digital systems and technologies.
