The more than $11 million grant will give a boost to a larger plan to expand a new facility on the Jersey City-Bayonne border. Upgrades include a new system that will allow containers to transfer directly from the terminal onto the national rail.

But to Senator Bob Menendez it spells more jobs for Hudson County and beyond.

“Businesses along the Jersey City Bayonne border, as you get more people who are going to be hired to move the cargo, longshoremen, teamsters, and other entities. You’ll get business, freight-brokers to come up along the region as cargo increases.”

He says the grant will bring more than 300 new construction jobs, and help more than 275=thousand workers keep their positions.

The Port of New York and New Jersey is already the busiest on the East Coast, and Menendez says this can only help it to compete with other markets in the U.S. and Canada.