CITY OF NEWBURGH — A riverfront company aims to build a port on the Hudson from which it can transport decking for the new Tappan Zee Bridge.
Officials of Steelways Inc. and the city will join federal and state officials Friday morning to announce the effort, which Steelways spokeswoman Susan Sullivan said could bring 150 jobs over three years.
Mayor Judy Kennedy and Councilwoman Genie Abrams declined to discuss details of the plan in advance of Friday’s announcement, though both spoke glowingly — in general terms, anyway — of its potential. Among the expected attendees are Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-Cold Spring, state Sen. William Larkin, R-C-Cornwall-on-Hudson, and Assemblyman Frank Skartados, D-Milton.
“This project has such potential,” Kennedy said. “It can truly change the economics of Newburgh.: Abrams said: “It will be very good news for the people of Newburgh, the kind of news we haven’t heard in 50 years.”
Sullivan said the company will bid on Friday to supply precast concrete decking for the new Tappan Zee Bridge. The contract will likely be awarded within a few weeks. Steelways can begin work on the port in April and complete the project by late summer. The company’s website says its 60 waterfront acres already include a shipyard with three sheltered harbors.
It has concrete marine launchways capable of accommodating vessels up to 300 feet long and 125 feet wide, and a marine railway capable of hauling 500-ton vessels. The main shipping channel runs adjacent to Steelways’ main pier, according to the site.
A resolution adopted Monday by the City Council expressed its “conceptual support of the Port of Newburgh project,” saying it will boost Newburgh’s economy by creating high-paying jobs and providing job-training opportunities for city residents.
Thomas Wright, a co-owner of Atlas Industries, a furniture designer and maker in the city, said who gets the potential jobs is important. “Jobs are great, but where do the people eat and live?” Wright said. “Are they people from Middletown driving to a parking lot, or people in Newburgh walking from their home in the city?”
Newburgh was once such a busy port that it had its own U.S. Customs office. Sailing ships were built at the waterfront in the 18th century. Navy ships were docked in Newburgh for repairs and reconstruction during World War II, said Mary McTamaney, the city’s historian. The Newburgh waterfront was where farmers brought their produce for shipping to New York City and beyond. “We were a transportation city,” McTamaney said. “We brought the goods of Orange County and the region to market, mostly downriver.”
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