Fulton Fish Market and Hunts Point groups push barges, electric charging to cut truck pollution

Donald Eversley, executive director of the Greater Hunts Point Economic Development Corporation, and Nicole Aarina, chief executive officer of the Fulton Fish Market Cooperative, told Bronx Talk listeners about ongoing efforts to shift freight off local streets and reduce air pollution in Hunts Point.

Eversley said the EDC — rebranded as Greater Hunts Point EDC to include adjacent neighborhoods such as Port Morris, Longwood and Soundview — has partnered with Urban Health Plan after years of funding changes to refocus on workforce development, sustainability and transportation. “We are particularly concerned…with the environment and sustainability on one hand and workforce getting our people to work and getting them trained,” he said.

Aarina described a two-part freight approach tied to the region’s waterways. She said the market is pursuing both barging for bulky materials and a roll-on/roll-off service for food and beverage that would allow trucks to board elsewhere and drive on and off into Hunts Point. Aarina noted a December pilot: “we moved seafood product by barge to Pier 17 in the seapport and then moved it…from the boat to the tin building by electric cargo trike,” she said, describing a last-mile test that paired barges with electric trikes.

Eversley said one aggregates barge operation alone could reduce truck traffic by about “a thousand trucks per month” once fully operational, a milestone he said is anticipated this spring. The host cited a commonly stated scale for the distribution center — roughly 13,000 to 15,000 truck movements per day — and guests stressed the 24-hour nature of market operations and the consequent local public-health burdens. “There’s no question that the South Bronx in general has very high rates of asthma and other respiratory diseases,” Eversley said.

The guests framed the proposal as incremental: combining barging with electrification of local fleets and new last-mile solutions — including electric cargo trikes and bikes — rather than an immediate wholesale shift of all freight to water. A key infrastructure element under discussion is a Bronx is Breathing initiative to build an electric truck charging station paired with a welcome center that would offer driver amenities and training space; Eversley described it as “a filling station for electric trucks.”

Aarina also described efforts to open the market to the wider public through tours and events intended to diversify activity at the Fulton Fish Market and attract visitors, and she invited listeners to upcoming events later in the month.

Why it matters: Hunts Point’s food-distribution activity is both an economic engine and a major local source of truck traffic. Eversley and Aarina presented a combination of barging, electrified vehicles and last-mile innovations as tools to reduce on-street truck movements and associated air-pollution exposure for nearby residents. The plan remains at a planning and pilot stage: pilots and infrastructure buildout were described as the next steps rather than completed changes.