Gov. Phil Murphy began and ended the week announcing that companies are expanding in New Jersey and creating new jobs. On Monday, he announced Irish-based Applegreen was opening a U.S. office in Glen Rock. Friday, he joined officials in the Mercer County community of Hopewell at a groundbreaking for a new U.S. manufacturing and research and development center for BeiGene, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of cancer medicines. The company, which has five offices in the U.S., says the Hopewell facility will be its flagship U.S. center. The company says it will add hundreds of new jobs. Meantime, a legal tech company called Malbek opened its new headquarters in Princeton this week, saying it plans to hire more staff as it expands.
With so much attention focused on offshore wind this week, it is worth noting the role higher education is playing in advancing the industry. There’s workforce training, of course, but the New Jersey Economic Development Authority recently provided a total of $1 million to Rutgers, Rowan, and Montclair State universities along with the New Jersey Institute of Technology to advance academic research in offshore wind. Tim Sullivan, CEO of the EDA, said most of the technology used in offshore wind was developed in Europe and is still made there. He wants to change that.
New Jersey’s ports have never been busier. Cargo volume at the Port of New York and New Jersey set a record high in March, with activity up more than 47% compared to March 2019, before the pandemic. The Port Authority also says traffic at the bridges and tunnels has returned to pre-pandemic levels, although PATH ridership is just 52% of what it was before the pandemic. At the airports, air passenger volume is 83% of what it was before the pandemic.
