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Metro record

Lumper services in Northern New Jersey

Northern New Jersey unloads the East Coast's largest container gateway, and its lumping companies work port transload floors, Meadowlands cross-docks and Turnpike distribution centers around the clock.

Survey of Northern New Jersey
Interstates on the survey: I-78, I-80, I-87, I-95, I-278, I-280, I-287, I-295, I-478, I-495, I-678, I-695

37 lumping companies on the record

Lumping companies serving Northern New Jersey, NJ

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Dock labor in Northern New Jersey, NJ

Agencies on the record
37
Dispatching to the metro directly
11
Covering the whole state
5
Nationwide operators
21
Places inside the market
10

Northern New Jersey is a port market first. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey operates Port Newark and the Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal, where Maher Terminals and APM Terminals Elizabeth handle containers, with GCT Bayonne working the Port Jersey peninsula across Newark Bay. ExpressRail Elizabeth and ExpressRail Port Newark load boxes on the dock; Norfolk Southern's Croxton yard in Jersey City and CSX's North Bergen and Little Ferry terminals take the rest. The NJDOT Portway corridor ties the marine terminals to the Meadowlands over Route 1&9 Truck and Route 7.

Warehousing follows the New Jersey Turnpike. Freight unloaders work South Kearny, Secaucus, Carlstadt and Moonachie in the Meadowlands, then Elizabeth, Linden, Carteret, Perth Amboy, Keasbey and Avenel along the water, then Edison, South Plainfield and Piscataway where I-287 crosses the Turnpike near Exit 10. Wakefern Food Corp, the ShopRite cooperative, is headquartered in Keasbey and supplies stores across the region; Goya Foods runs its headquarters and distribution operations in Jersey City and Secaucus. I-78 and I-80 carry the same freight west toward Pennsylvania.

Demand for dock labor here is import-shaped. Ocean containers get stripped and transloaded into 53-foot domestic trailers within a few miles of the berth, much of it floor-loaded and hand-stacked, and volume climbs from late summer through the holiday retail season. Cold chain runs year round: the terminals carry reefer capacity for Chilean and Peruvian grapes moving under USDA cold treatment in winter, plus Moroccan and Turkish citrus. Third-party unloading crews also staff the cross-dock and LTL lanes feeding New York City.

Last reviewed September 2026

Northern New Jersey, NJ on the record

  1. Port Newark and the Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal, operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, host Maher Terminals and APM Terminals Elizabeth, with GCT Bayonne on the Port Jersey peninsula.

    Source: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

  2. ExpressRail Elizabeth and ExpressRail Port Newark provide on-dock rail service, moving containers between vessel berths and the national rail network without a separate drayage move.

    Source: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, ExpressRail program

  3. Norfolk Southern operates the Croxton intermodal terminal in Jersey City, and CSX operates intermodal terminals at North Bergen and Little Ferry.

    Source: Norfolk Southern and CSX intermodal terminal listings

  4. NJDOT's Portway corridor improved truck routes, including Route 1&9 Truck and Route 7, between the Newark and Elizabeth marine terminals and the Meadowlands warehouse district.

    Source: New Jersey Department of Transportation, Portway program

  5. Wakefern Food Corp, the retailer-owned cooperative behind ShopRite, is headquartered in Keasbey in Woodbridge Township, at the center of the Middlesex County distribution belt.

    Source: Wakefern Food Corp

  6. Goya Foods maintains its corporate headquarters and major distribution operations in Jersey City and Secaucus.

    Source: Goya Foods

  7. Grapes and other fruit from Chile and Peru arrive at northeast ports through the winter under USDA cold treatment protocols, keeping refrigerated handling steady in the domestic produce off season.

    Source: USDA Agricultural Marketing Service and USDA APHIS cold treatment program

Inside the Northern New Jersey, NJ market

ElizabethNewarkSouth KearnySecaucusCarteretPerth AmboyKeasbeyEdisonPiscatawayBayonne

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Reading for Northern New Jersey, NJ operators

Questions about dock labor in Northern New Jersey, NJ

Do ILA rules cover dock labor at Northern New Jersey warehouses?

On the marine terminals themselves, container handling is International Longshoremen's Association work under the USMX master contract. Off terminal, inside private transload buildings, cross-docks and distribution centers, the facility contracts its own dock labor, which is where lumper services in Northern New Jersey are typically hired.

When is trailer unloading demand heaviest here?

Two swells drive it. Import peak season runs from late summer into fall as retail inventory lands ahead of the holidays, and a second surge comes when shippers front-load cargo before Lunar New Year factory closures in Asia. Both show up first at Port Newark and Elizabeth, then in the transload buildings within a few miles of the terminals.

How much of the work is refrigerated?

More than in most inland markets. The port complex handles reefer containers year round, including Chilean and Peruvian grapes and stone fruit moving under USDA cold treatment through the winter and Mediterranean citrus in the same window, so crews working Elizabeth, Perth Amboy and South Kearny cold storage need cooler and freezer experience, not just dry van unloading.