Port Support Zone

The Port Support Zone will provide tools and legal authority to redevelop unused and underutilized brownfield sites within industrial zones near the port for use by port support industries including warehousing and distribution, container and chassis pool storage and operation, repair and maintenance facilities for port related equipment.

Initially proposed by the New York Shipping Association, the Port Support Zone has become a major project of the Port community, and is proposed for the area within five miles of the port. It forms a supplement to existing redevelopment authority, bolstered by the recently adopted New Jersey Economic Stimulus Act and the extension of provisions of the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit Act to rail freight lines.

The Zone would stimulate the construction of new, LEED certified buildings on properties redeveloped under the Act, and provide significant tax incentives for redevelopment of sites that would employ more than 250 persons


 The Port Support Zone is within a 5 mile radius of the major port facilities at Port Jersey, Port Newark, Port Elizabeth and Howland Hook.

Nation’sPort is working with the interested parties, both public and private, to create a common vision for the Port Support Zone. The parties are currently drafting legislation that would implement the concept.

The Port Support Zone would help ensure the long term future of the port through protection of existing industrially zoned lands and reserving them for future port related uses best carried out near, but not at the port itself. Focusing on long term economic and environmental sustainability, the Port Support Zone also provides strong support for New Jersey’s adopted Smart Growth Policies and the efforts of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.