While the Elizabeth/Linden, NJ area is a mess, just like the LA/Long Beach area, it is probably due as much to the diesel trucks who pick up that cargo as the ships that deliver it.
Ocean going ships are requried to switch to 0.5% sulfur fuel as they cross into our territorial waters. So they maintain small tanks for that fuel. It is a big drop from the 5% sulfur fuel that they use in open waters, but a lot more than the 10 ppm diesel required for trucks.
But unless the ports of Elizabeth/Linden buy back diesel rigs and replace them with low polluting common rail engines like LA/Long Beach have done, you will still get a lot of soot and NOx from those engines.
David