Claremont Terminal (Jersey City, New Jersey)

USA / New Jersey / Jersey City / Jersey City, New Jersey
 seaport, production, junkyard / scrapyard
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Built in 1920 by the Lehigh Valley railroad to unload ore-laden freighters from South America, the Claremont Terminal's considerable dockside trackage was used to quickly deliver raw ore for use in the steel mills of Bethlehem Steel at Bethlehem, PA. Continuing this use through the Second World War, the terminal was repurposed for the loading of US Army troopships and transports following the war and working in conjunction with the Caven Point Army Terminal provided much of the material used by US forces in the early years of the Korean War.

With the Lehigh Valley Railroad running into major financial troubles and eventually being absorbed by Pennsylvania Railroad in 1962, operation of the Claremont Terminal was turned over to Jersey City, which promptly began an often violent fight between politicians and union dockworkers over control of the lucrative US Army contracts earmarked for the terminal. In the end, the Unions broke but by that time the US Army had redirected its interests elsewhere, leaving Jersey City owners of a vacant and increasingly dilapidated terminal.

Remaining vacant for several years, the Claremont Terminal eventually came under the ownership of CSX after the split-up of Conrail in 1999, which had absorbed the trackage of most Northeast Railroads which went bankrupt in the 1960's and 1970's. CSX "reinvested" in the terminals' infrastructure by removing most of the rail lines and pier space, intending to use the facility for bulk cargoes such as aggregates, stone or scrap.

Today, the Claremont Terminal is used almost exclusively as a Steel and Ferrous metals scrap export facility, utilizing its location on New York Harbor to attract customers from the tri-State area and the Hudson River Valley
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Coordinates:   40°41'4"N   74°4'34"W
This article was last modified 8 years ago