Maher Terminal sale expected after PANYNJ votes on lease renewal

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Board of Commissioners today announced a “landmark” 33-year lease extension with operator Maher Terminals. 

For the last couple of years, investors have been anticipating when Macquarie Asset Management would finally put Maher Terminals up for sale, given that the fund that holds it is at the end of its life.  

Industry executives have said that once Maher and PANYNJ agreed on a lease extension – negotiations that have been ongoing for over a year – the next step would be for Macquarie to start interviewing banks for an auction process.  

Through Macquarie Infrastructure Partners III, the asset manager acquired the business in November 2016. That fund closed in 2014, armed with $3 billion in commitments and featuring a 10-year tenor, according to IJGlobal data.  

Maher executives are expected to sign the lease extension agreement early 2026, said a source familiar with the matter.  

Presently, Maher and Macquarie are focused on signing the lease and have not contemplated a sale process at this juncture, the source added.  

Macquarie declined to comment, and Maher did not respond to requests for comment. 

The long-term agreement will run through September 2063 and includes significant investments to strengthen the regional supply chain and prepare the East Coast’s busiest port for continued cargo growth, port executives said in the press release.  

Maher resides in the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, which also hosts Port Newark Container Terminal and APM Terminals. That complex is part of the PANYNJ’s broader marine port assets that also comprise Howland Hook Marine Terminal in Staten Island, New York; Port Jersey PAMT in New Jersey; and Brooklyn PAMT and Waterfront Facilities in New York, according to PANYNJ literature. 

This set of seaport assets represents the second-busiest port in the country, port authority officials said in the press release. As part of the authority’s newly approved 50-year budget for the years 2026-2035, officials are counting on $1.2 billion in private investment to modernize and expand container terminal operations and infrastructure. 

Maher Terminals is the largest and busiest of the port’s five container terminals, spanning approximately 450 acres in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and handling roughly 35% of the port’s container traffic in 2024. 

“Under the agreement, Maher will assume full responsibility for the maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement, as needed, of all wharf and berth structures within its leasehold by 2030,” officials said in the statement. “Additionally, the agreement includes increased rental payments structured to incentivize capacity growth.  

“The lease agreement also includes a commitment from Maher to expand capacity as demand grows and to collaborate with the Port Authority on shared priorities, including security, innovation and sustainability.” 

“Cargo volumes are growing, vessels are getting larger, and shippers are demanding more reliability than ever,” Port Authority executive director, Rick Cotton, said in prepared remarks. “By locking in sustained private investment and modernizing critical infrastructure, we’re making sure the East Coast’s busiest port is ready to move more goods, support more regional growth, and meet the demands of a more complex global economy.” 

Cotton is set to retire next month.  

New York Gov. Kathy Hocul announced earlier this month that Kathryn Garcia, former commissioner for the New York City Department of Sanitation, would step into the role.