Canadians acquire Global Terminal & Container Systems, at Port Jersey

RONALD LEIR - JERSEY JOURNAL - JAN 20

Will some Canadian educators soon be carrying longshoreman hooks to class?

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan has bought Global Terminal & Container Systems, Inc., at Port Jersey Boulevard, of Jersey City and Bayonne, along with the New York Container Terminal (formerly known as Howland Hook) in Staten Island and two marine container terminals in Vancouver for $2.4 billion.

"We view this as a very positive event for Global," said the company's president and CEO Maurice J. Byan. "(OTPP) are long-term investors and (the sale) gives us resources to proceed with growth programs we have in place, and we look forward to providing more job opportunities and economic benefits to Jersey City and Bayonne."

He added that "the present management will remain in place" and that "the transition will be seamless."

Global pays Jersey City $829,971 in taxes on nearly 57 acres of mostly storage property while Bayonne collects about $1 million in taxes for 41 acres, much of which is underwater, records show.

Last year, the company acquired two new 225-foot-tall cranes for about $6 million apiece to help handle the cargo growth anticipated by the port in the coming years and is planning $40 million in dock improvements within a year or so. It employs anywhere from 180 to "upwards of 350," depending on the volume of business handled, Byan said.

OTPP spokeswoman Deborah Allan said the pension fund, with $84 billion in assets, closed the deal on Global last week, acquiring the Port Jersey Boulevard property from Orient Overseas International Limited of Hong Kong.

Allan said the properties "will be part of our infrastructure portfolio as a longterm commitment to our members. Our investments tend to be well tied to stability and for that reason we feel that the terminals are a very good fit for us."

Aaron Ellis, spokesman for the American Association of Port Authorities, of Alexanderia, Va., said the investment "ties into the widespread trend of port trade volumes continuing to escalate, and with a diminishing amount of waterfront property to develop new terminals or to expand existing ones, you're seeing an increasing demand for terminal assets."