Source: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Expressrail Lifts, 1991-2008

The promotion of rail transport has been a priority to improve the efficiency of the port, especially at Port Elizabeth. In 1991 a 35-acre (14 ha) ExpressRail terminal, built by the intermodal freight operator Maher Terminals, opened. This offers direct doublestaking ship-to-rail and rail-to-ship transshipment capabilities, functions which grew from 43,000 containers handled in 1992 to above 377,000 in 2008. To expand the capacity of the on-dock rail terminal a new terminal with further improved truck and rail access opened in 2003. It was expected that rail�s share of intermodal movements will climb to 25-30 per cent of transshipped containers by 2010. However, as of 2008, this share was at 12.3%, implying that modal shift expectations have only attained half the goal.