With new clean-air initiatives quieting environmental concerns, the Port of Long Beach is embarking on a $3 billion capital construction program aimed at protecting the port’s share of shippuing business in the face of competition from other ports
The efforts include plans to enlarge marine terminals, build a taller, wider bridge and expand on-dock rail capacity, Richard Steinke, the port’s executive director, told the International Business Association of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce this week.
“Today’s reality is that our customers are shopping around, and other seaports are vying aggressively for their business,” he said.
The environmental movement has placed port expansion projects at Long Beach and neighboring Los Angeles under a microscope for almost a decade, delaying the start of some two dozen projects in the port complex.
The ports responded by developing the Clean Air Action Plan that provides a template for construction of environmentally-acceptable marine terminals and rail facilities. Steinke said arduous and costly effort has allowed Long Beach to move ahead with expansion projects even as other ports remain in the early stages of dealing with environmental challenges.
“Other ports are scrambling to launch similar programs to maintain or gather public support for their projects. We have a head start over our competitors,” he said.
Long Beach last April received the go-ahead for its Middle Harbor project that will allow the port to replace two obsolete, irregularly-shaped container terminals with one more functional rectangular facility with a large on-dock rail yard.
Long Beach this year will release the draft environmental report for a $1.1 billion project to replace the 40-year-old Gerald Desmond Bridge with a larger, higher bridge that will accommodate more traffic and allow passage underneath of the largest vessels in operation today. Steinke said about15 percent of total U.S. containerized imports move across the current bridge.
Also this year, Long Beach will release the draft environmental report for a project to build a new container terminal and on-dock rail yard at Pier S.
The efforts include plans to enlarge marine terminals, build a taller, wider bridge and expand on-dock rail capacity, Richard Steinke, the port’s executive director, told the International Business Association of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce this week.
“Today’s reality is that our customers are shopping around, and other seaports are vying aggressively for their business,” he said.
The environmental movement has placed port expansion projects at Long Beach and neighboring Los Angeles under a microscope for almost a decade, delaying the start of some two dozen projects in the port complex.
The ports responded by developing the Clean Air Action Plan that provides a template for construction of environmentally-acceptable marine terminals and rail facilities. Steinke said arduous and costly effort has allowed Long Beach to move ahead with expansion projects even as other ports remain in the early stages of dealing with environmental challenges.
“Other ports are scrambling to launch similar programs to maintain or gather public support for their projects. We have a head start over our competitors,” he said.
Long Beach last April received the go-ahead for its Middle Harbor project that will allow the port to replace two obsolete, irregularly-shaped container terminals with one more functional rectangular facility with a large on-dock rail yard.
Long Beach this year will release the draft environmental report for a $1.1 billion project to replace the 40-year-old Gerald Desmond Bridge with a larger, higher bridge that will accommodate more traffic and allow passage underneath of the largest vessels in operation today. Steinke said about15 percent of total U.S. containerized imports move across the current bridge.
Also this year, Long Beach will release the draft environmental report for a project to build a new container terminal and on-dock rail yard at Pier S.