The new Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT) is due to come on stream next year with final phase of completion in 2019. The size of the Long Beach facility and level of automation could make it a game changer on terminal design and operation in North America. In the marine terminal business, there is something big happening on the West Coast that’s hard to miss and it stands to radically change the container handling business in the United States. The new, nearly $2 billion automated Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT) is due to open at the Port of Long Beach in 2016 and potentially will be the blueprint for a new generation of North American box terminals.  LBCT was constructed by the Port of Long Beach at a cost of $1.3 billion with another $650 million provided by LBCT for cargo-handling equipment. Port officials say the LBCT will have a 3.2 million TEU handling capacity by the time the terminal is fully operational in 2019, around half of the Port of Long Beach’s current container throughput. The Port of Long Beach’s total throughput was 6,820,806 TEU in 2014 while neighboring Los Angeles’s total throughput was 8,340,065 TEU. The cornerstone of the project was the inking of a 40-year, $4.6 billion lease agreement between the Port and Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) and its subsidiary, Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT). More than a tenant, OOCL is part of the G-6 carrier alliance, which includes the steamship lines: American President Lines (APL), Hapag Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, MOL and NYK, who will be calling at state-of-the-art facilities. When LBCT opens in 2016, the G-6 alliance will benefit from a facility that is projected to reduce cargo-handling costs by 40% compared to older, existing terminals. It is a terminal designed to cater to the new generation of mega-box ships, and will be able to simultaneously handle two 18,000 TEU mega container ships with a third berth for a smaller containership. Anthony Otto, president of LBCT told the American Journal of Transportation, “Our first commercial vessel operation is scheduled for next April. We are going through extensive testing and training leading up to the April go-live.” LBCT Design Features LBCT’s new, automated terminal will reduce emissions using electrically powered equipment. LBCT will coordinate its operations using the latest Navis-based cargo handling software to integrate cranes, automated guided vehicles, automated stacking systems and cargo stowage on ships. The terminal will deploy dual-hoist container cranes that will quickly load and unload containers to and from automated guided vehicles (AGVs) operating without drivers. The AGVs will move containers into stacks that move the containers automatically. The system delivers a container in time for arrival of the next ship, for pick up by truck or for on-dock train. The nine-year $1.31 billion project upgrades berths, water access and container yards, as well as greatly expands on-dock rail transport. The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners approved the project’s Environmental Impact Report in 2009 after extensive environmental review and public participation. Construction started in spring 2011. In keeping with the Port’s Green Port Policy and the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan, the LBCT project will minimize or eliminate negative environmental impacts from shipping operations. To improve air quality and reduce environmental impacts, the project includes: • Shore power for ships • Expanded on-dock rail to shift more cargo shipments from trucks to trains • Cleaner yard equipment • Electric stacking cranes • Use of low-sulfur fuels for ships’ main and auxiliary engines  • “Green building” (LEED) environmental standards • Storm water pollution prevention • Solar panels • Reuse or recycle waste materials such as concrete, steel, copper, and other materials during construction Increased On-Dock Rail Port of Long Beach CEO Jon Slangerup said the Green Port Gateway is a key part of building the “Port of the Future.” “This project will enable us to reach our goal of moving 35% of containerized cargo via on-dock rail this decade,” Slangerup said. “It will also support our long-range ambition to eventually move 50% of our goods directly from terminals by train.” The “Green Port Gateway” project — funded in part with state and federal transportation dollars — was completed in 2015. The project realigned a critical rail pathway to relieve a bottleneck, allowing Port terminals to increase their use of on-dock rail, decreasing truck traffic and air pollution.  The upgrades will serve the Port’s southeast terminals, including the new LBCT terminal. The upgrades included almost 6 miles of new track. The work included adding a third rail line under Ocean Boulevard, along with new retaining walls, utility line modifications and roadway improvements. Every on-dock rail train eliminates as many as 750 truck trips from regional roadways. The California State Transportation Agency (CSTA), California Transportation Commission (CTC) and CalTrans helped with $23.1 million from the state’s Proposition 1B Trade Corridor Improvement Fund. The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Maritime Administration assisted with $17 million from the TIGER III program (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery). The Port plans $1 billion in rail projects over the next decade as part of a broader modernization program to strengthen the Port’s competitiveness and reduce port-related impacts to the environment. Compared to trucks, trains emit one-third less greenhouse gases on a ton-mile basis.