With billions of dollars of infrastructure projects in the works, California’s major containerports are preparing to efficiently and environmentally consciously handle even greater cargo volumes, including freight carried on the industry’s largest vessels. The Golden State’s three busiest containerports – the neighboring Southern California gateways of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach plus the Port of Oakland – combined to handle more than 17 million twenty-foot-equivalent units of containerized cargo in 2013 and are positioning to accommodate growing future throughputs, further capitalizing upon their position as the natural U.S. link to the Asian market. From expanded container terminals and new intermodal facilities to a sprawling distribution center and a replacement harbor bridge, California’s big box ports not only are concentrating on waterside development but also on infrastructure to help move cargo to and from inland points. Port Los Angeles The Port of Los Angeles, which handled 7.9 million TEUs last year, continuing its reign as the No. 1 U.S. containerport, is in the midst of a five-year, $1.2 billion capital improvement program. Construction is nearly complete on the West Basin Railyard at Berth 200, which is to furnish a critical link between the Port of Los Angeles and the Alameda Corridor and onward to the national freight network. The $155 million railyard project is advancing thanks to a combination of funding mechanisms, including $51.2 million from a State Proposition 1B Trade Corridors Improvement Fund (TCIF) grant administered by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), $48.37 million from harbor revenue coffers, $22.1 million in federal money awarded through the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) and $16 million via the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) competitive grant program. The West Basin Railyard bodes to not just be good for freight movement but also a benefit to the economy and the environment, generating some 2,000 direct and indirect jobs while eliminating 2,300 daily truck trips from local Interstate highways, including the Harbor Freeway (I-110) and Long Beach Freeway (I-710), and putting to use short line Pacific Harbor Line’s ultra-low-emissions locomotives. The new railyard also is freeing up track space at the TraPac Container Terminal to be used for the on-dock rail facility that is part of a five-year, $510 million expansion program at that terminal. The TraPac expansion is targeted for completion in 2016, early in the life of a 30-year terminal lease that is the first of its kind inked under the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan.
At the Port of Los Angeles, a $510 million expansion of the TraPac Container Terminal features addition of automated cranes.
At the Port of Los Angeles, a $510 million expansion of the TraPac Container Terminal features addition of automated cranes.
In addition to providing the on-dock rail installation, the TraPac project is extending wharves to 4,600 linear feet, deepening water depths at berths 144 through 147, adding ecofriendly automated cranes, upgrading 50 acres of backlands, and bringing roadway and gate improvements. Federal grants, in conjunction with Caltrans, are moving forward a complementary array of projects to improve freeway access to port facilities, eliminate traffic movement conflicts, improve existing nonstandard elements, and ease present and future conditions for port and background traffic. The primary strategy of this $383 million program is the reduction and separation of port truck traffic from roadways heavily used by the general public. The program includes the $72 million South Wilmington grade separation, the $20 million I-110/State Route 47 interchange, the $50 million I-110/C Street project and the $31 million I-110/John S. Gibson Boulevard access ramp undertaking. Also, following in the footsteps of the Port of Los Angeles’ $370 million main channel deepening project, providing 53-foot depths, the port and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have just released a draft environmental impact statement report for enhancements at the Yusen Terminals Inc. Container Terminal. Port of Long Beach At the Port of Long Beach, which retained its No. 2 ranking among U.S. containerports by handling more than 6.7 million TEUs last year, a $4 billion capital improvement program is under way. The biggest single endeavor is the $1.3 billion Middle Harbor redevelopment project, which is combining two aging container terminals into a technologically advanced, environmentally friendly, 300-acre facility. According to officials, the project will support as many as 14,000 jobs and result in a 50 percent reduction in air pollution.
The Middle Harbor redevelopment project is creating a state-of-the-industry, 300-acre terminal at the Port of Long Beach.
The Middle Harbor redevelopment project is creating a state-of-the-industry, 300-acre terminal at the Port of Long Beach.
The Middle Harbor project is advancing under a lease that gives Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd. (OOCL) and its Long Beach Container Terminal LLC subsidiary exclusive use of the facility for 40 years. The first phase is slated to be ready in 2015. At full buildout, the Middle Harbor terminal is to include 15 next-generation ship-to-shore gantries and 70 all-electric stacking cranes plus energy-efficient, space-saving racks for storing refrigerated containers. Meanwhile, work has just begun on the $1.2 billion project to replace the Gerald Desmond Bridge, the crumbling 1.5-mile span that was built back in 1968 to link the Port of Long Beach’s Terminal Island with the nation’s highway network. The replacement span – with three lanes in each direction rather than the present two lanes each way – is being built via a partnership between the port and the U.S. Department of Transportation, Caltrans and Metro. It is to be California’s first cable-stayed bridge for vehicles. Also, the Port of Long Beach in April welcomed the latest addition to its boat fleet with delivery of a refurbished, retrofitted landing craft to strengthen emergency recovery capabilities provided by the port’s security division. Donated to the port by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency, the Landing Craft Mechanized Mark 8 (LCM-8) underwent 12 months of renovations to add cleaner-burning engines, an 8-ton-capacity salvage crane, a drop-down ramp and a galley. The $1.5 million cost of renovations was funding primarily by the California Port and Maritime Security Grant Program. In addition, the Port of Long Beach in February began relocating its nearly 300 administrative employees to temporary headquarters adjacent to Long Beach Airport, almost 10 miles from the port’s nearest operations, while plans for a new permanent office closer to the port are being developed. New office space is needed to replace the on-port building that served as the port’s headquarters since 1960. Port of Oakland On the mainland shore of San Francisco Bay, the Port of Oakland is looking to build upon its 2013 volume of 2.35 million TEUs, which put the port at fifth-busiest among U.S. containerports. The key project is the two-phased, $1.2 billion endeavor to transform the site of the Oakland Army Base, which was closed in 1999, into the Oakland Global Trade & Logistics Center.
The Oakland Global Trade & Logistics Center is being developed on the former Oakland Army Base site.
The Oakland Global Trade & Logistics Center is being developed on the former Oakland Army Base site.
The Port of Oakland and City of Oakland broke ground on the first phase of the project last year, with intent to make Oakland the only premier containerport in the nation able to offer distribution and warehouse facilities and services directly adjacent to port container terminals, deep harbors and multiple Class I rail connections. The initial phase includes a new railyard scheduled for completion in summer 2015, to provide additional railcar storage capacity and unit train capabilities for current and future customers, particularly those engaged in transload, bulk and breakbulk businesses. The effort is proceeding in close coordination with Union Pacific Railroad Co. and BNSF Railway Co., with the backing of federal TIGER and state TCIF grants in addition to port funds. Additionally in this $500 million first phase, 140 acres owned by the City of Oakland are being rebuilt into a modern complex including 1 million square feet of new warehouses at which exports and imports can be offloaded and repackaged. The remainder of the former base property is to be developed in the next phase, to include additional logistics and cold storage facilities and completion of further intermodal rail infrastructure. Not only should these facilities provide enhanced capabilities for linking containerized imports from Asia and elsewhere with the Northern California market and beyond but also should support the Port of Oakland’s continuing preeminent position as a prime export hub.