Port Authority of New York and New Jersey- Can we Learn from it?

Two recent events have reminded me of a suggestion that came to my attention about 25 years. The first is a recent visit that I made to New York where I saw numerous signs advertising the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The second is the recent fuel tank fire at North Mole. They may seem unrelated and disparate events but the reason why I made the connection is because of the subject of inter-state cooperation. 


One subject on which everyone seems agreed is that, whether in Gibraltar or elsewhere, the resources available in any individual locality will not be sufficient to deal with all emergencies. There will be emergencies of a size that will require assistance from services from other localities. In a large country, this is usually not a problem, the services of a nearby town or county can be relied upon to help. In Gibraltar such assistance is only available from a foreign state, Spain. A foreign state that has a sovereignty claim on Gibraltar.


There is no doubt that Spain will and has helped, as evidenced recently. The question is not that it will or will not help. The question is, what agreed fixed arrangements are there in place to deal with these situations? It seems, from the little that I have heard, that such arrangements as exist are informal and ad hoc. They seem to depend on personal connections and relationships established between individuals within each of the emergency services. The problem with such arrangements is not that help is not forthcoming but the political repercussions of having to rely on informal arrangements. This is especially so in light of Spain's sovereignty claim. Spain will always have a political propagandist angle that it will exploit, perhaps not at a national level but certainly at a local level. These incidents and the lack of formalised arrangements gives Spain ammunition that it may not have were formal cooperation agreements to exist.


The Trilateral Talks Communique of the 21st July 2009 included six areas for agreement on cooperation. One of these was:

"We have sought to ensure a high level of environmental protection in Gibraltar and the whole region, especially the Campo de Gibraltar, by proposing co-operation in areas such as pollution from maritime activity and traffic, bunkering operations, industrial emissions and water discharges, waste disposal and land reclamations, among others. This co-operation is intended to take the form of liaisons, establishment of contact points and urgent means of communication, rehearsed co- operation in co-ordinated incident response, and other means... We are committed to reaching agreements in these areas as soon as possible preferably by the end of the year , and in any event by next year's ministerial round."

Undoubtedly this intention is sufficiently widely worded to include cooperation agreements on mutual assistance to be provided by the emergency services of Gibraltar and the Campo de Gibraltar in the event of need in an emergency. Formal arrangements reduce, if not eliminate, the ability to use such events as propaganda against Gibraltar. However despite the expression of desire to reach agreement, none have been reached as yet.

However, why limit cooperation in this manner? Why not go one step further and cooperate to enhance the overall exploitation of the port and airport resources of the Bay of Gibraltar for the economic benefit of the whole area? That is what New York and New Jersey agreed to do in 1921 when by inter-state agreement they created the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  I quote a brief description from and provide a link to an online encyclopedia: 

"Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, self-sustaining public corporation established in 1921 by the states of New York and New Jersey to administer the activities of the New York–New Jersey port area, which has a waterfront of c.900 mi (1,450 km) lying in both states. In 1917 the governors of New York and New Jersey appointed a bistate commission to study the problem of coordinating port and harbor development for the two states as a whole in an attempt to resolve the many disputes between the states concerning such matters as boundaries, marine police jurisdiction, and freight rates. Out of this group's recommendations grew the idea for the authority, and in 1921 a compact was signed (the Port Compact) that defined a single Port District and provided for its administration by a Port Authority that was to coordinate terminal, transportation, and other facilities of commerce. Originally called the Port of New York Authority, the name was changed in 1972 to reflect the joint administration of the port.

Read more:  Port Authority of New York and New Jersey — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0839772.html#ixzz1OooOV02l"

I do not suggest an identical copy of what was created in New York and New Jersey. I believe that it is an example from which we could learn. There are similarities and there are differences. The obvious difference is that both New York and New Jersey are part of the USA. The similarity is that they are each separate and distinct states within a federation, with separate and distinct governments and administrative competencies and that by a cooperation agreement issues of dispute between them were resolved. I am sure that the resources available on each side of the frontier between Gibraltar and Spain could be used to enhance the overall offering of the Bay of Gibraltar. This becomes increasingly important, now, when faced with increased competition from the new Tangier port across the Straits of Gibraltar.

I believe it may be a controversial suggestion but one worthy of thought and debate. It may well be that it is a non-starter. If that is the case, let that be so, after consideration and debate, not because no one has thought of it or because it is rejected out of hand without due analysis and proper thought and consideration. Innovative ways forward need to be considered if Gibraltar is to move on and improve itself especially in today's world. Expansion of the economy and opportunities on both sides of the frontier  will be enhanced if available resources are shared across the border and future investment is made wisely thus avoiding duplication.