Water in.
Water out.

Water in. Water out. A Blue Highway for New York.

Ideas and images shared by Jim Tampakis. Adapted into a community explainer by BMT Works4NY.

Ships bring goods to Brooklyn Marine Terminal. Smaller vessels carry them onward. Cargo bikes and electric vehicles handle suitable local deliveries.

NYC DOT reports approximately 130,000 vehicles on the BQE each day, including 13,000 trucks.

Study how much suitable freight can move by water and how much working waterfront that requires.

At BMT, goods can be sorted by destination and packed for smaller electric vessels.

Cold storage, resilient warehouses and charging need room on land.

Jim proposes solar roofs, standardized containers that transfer to cargo bikes, and light manufacturing supplied and served by water. His example is a bakery receiving ingredients and distributing its products through the water network.

At the June 11, 2024 New York City Industrial Development Agency meeting, Andrew Kimball described half of the food arriving at Red Hook being barged to New Jersey, stored in cold storage, and trucked to Hunts Point.

Our proposal keeps cold storage and sorting at BMT, followed by onward waterborne distribution and cleaner local deliveries.

NYC DOT reports more than five million package deliveries by cargo bikes in 2022, made over 130,000 trips.

In December 2025 the City launched a marine freight pilot from Atlantic Basin to Pier 79, connecting NY Waterway ferries with DutchX electric cargo bikes.

The City’s 2025 Blue Highways Action Plan assessed 25 waterfront locations.

BMT can be a hub for a connected network, with goods moving onward to neighborhood landings and the wider region.

Jim Tampakis: “Before we start reducing the port size, let’s understand how much space we actually need.”

BMT Works4NY supports study of the full 122-acre all-port alternative, retention of cold storage in Brooklyn and development of clean waterborne deliveries.