Addressing the monumental traffic backups at the Ports of New York and New Jersey, the New Jersey Motor Truck Association called on the ports to adapt to the higher volume in a release.

Representatives of the port terminals were blaming traffic congestion on truckers lining for the port before the gates opened, according to a report last week. 

Speaking for the New Jersey Intermodal Carrier Conference, NJMTA member Tom Adamski called placing the blame on truckers “beyond the absurd.” He blamed the ports' seeming unwillingness to adjust gate hours to compensate for the increase in volume.

“The volume that any other port in the world would do cartwheels to have, and not service it, properly borders on sacrilege – no, it is sacrilege,” said Adamski in a press release.

The terminals are experiencing increases as high as 100% in some cases, but have still maintained 60-hour weekly gates, according to the association. The terminals themselves operate close to 168 hours per week to load and unload cargo.

With many truckers lining up for the next day’s gate hours at midnight and lines as long as 300 – 400 truckers, Adamski suggested adding a late night, 11 p.m – 7 a.m. sequence of gate hours in addition to normal gate hours in order to allow the terminals to take advantage of less congested times.

“There is an expression, 'build it and they will come,'” said Adamski. “For the truckers – open it up and they will come.”