The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, recognizing the increasingly important role played by retail importers and their supply chain strategies on port container traffic and growth, have embarked on the development of a “Strategic Distribution Business Promotion Plan.” This report presents the results of the first phase of this effort which was led by the Rutgers University team.

This report presents the findings and observations from interviews conducted with 22 of the top 100 retail importers, delineating their objectives and criteria for the design of their distribution strategies, including the location of international distribution centers. The implications of these findings for the further development of the SDBPP, including the evaluation of potential investments and development have been identified and described.

The report also classified and evaluated potential site developments in the Port of NY and NJ region. Site selection considerations and competitive assessment criteria were developed and applied.

And finally, the report describes a detailed model that utilizes the findings of the previously described tasks to address the competitiveness of the Port of NY and NJ in the retail supply chain network. The model incorporates both operational and financial costs incurred by the importer through alternative ports in supplying their demand. The model demonstrates the sensitivity of port market share to key components of the distribution system and is a tool that can be used to evaluate candidate infrastructure projects intended to improve the Port of NY and NJ’s market share in the import segment.