International Transportation Service Inc. will soon vacate its TransBay Container Terminal at the Port of Oakland, and Ports America will move into the space. The transfer, to take place at the end of August, was approved last week by the Oakland port commission. ITS has operated the 49-acre TransBay terminal at berths 25-26 since 1986 and expanded into a portion of the adjacent berth 24 in 2008. Berth 24 was subsequently included in the berth 20-24 concession and lease agreement that the port entered into with Ports America in 2009. Since that date, ITS has continued to use a portion of berth 24 under a license agreement with Ports America that will expire on August 31. Rather than operating exclusively on berths 25-26, ITS has opted to turn the TransBay space over to Ports America - thereby reducing the total number of container terminals at the Port of Oakland and giving Ports America a 210-acre terminal, which will be the largest container terminal at the port. read more
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By Bill Lyte
Technoplex Inc.
By what measures can the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach be considered successful? Is it annual container count or revenues contributed to their respective cities? Is it measurable reduction in emissions, local jobs created, or the creation of solid community relationships? Is it retention of market share, regional commercial leadership, or green port technology innovation? The answer is that it's all of these. read more
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Negotiations between ILWU clerical workers and employers at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach will resume on Wednesday. By the end of last week, negotiators had accomplished little other than ironing out minor details in 14 separate contracts with shipping lines and marine terminal operators, said Stephen Berry, an attorney representing the employers. Larger items of contention remain unresolved. Picketing at marine terminals was suspended early last week. read more
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By George Cunningham
For several years anticipation of the opening of an expanded Panama Canal has been driving the agenda of U.S. ports on the East, Gulf, and West coast. The expanded canal - capable of handling the mega-ships plying the oceans today - is expected to open in 2014 and East and Gulf Coast ports have been looking for ways to exploit the possibilities. West Coast ports, on the other hand, are looking at the opening of the canal as a threat to their market share and to West Coast dominance of the transpacific trade. read more
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Negotiators for the Office Clerical Unit of the ILWU Local 63 and terminal and shipping line employers at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach are headed back to the tables this afternoon (7/12) after talks ended last week without resolution. As management employees took over clerical duties to keep terminals operating, placard-carrying OCU workers expanded their pickets to five separate port facilities - the Yusen Terminal, West Basin Container Terminal and Seaside Transportation Service Terminal in Los Angeles, and Total Terminals International and Pacific Container Terminal in Long Beach. Although ILWU longshore workers from three Los Angeles area locals initially refused to cross new OCU picket lines, an area arbitrator appointed jointly by the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association ordered the dockworkers - who are covered under a separate contract - back to work on July 8. Another arbitrator made a similar ruling after picket lines were first established on July 1, saying that the OCU had not bargained in good faith. read more
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By George Cunningham
Even in the best of times, it's not easy being in the port drayage industry. When times turn bad and even when they start to turn good again, it can be even tougher. Especially if you have your money tied up in trucks that spend much of their day waiting in line and using drivers who are barely making ends meet. In port drayage, you are the first to feel the pain, but the last to enjoy the fruits of recovery. That's why the business attracts so many tough, independent-type entrepreneurs - quick to speak their minds, but often just as quickly dismissed by more powerful players in the industry. Other supply-chain partners may be sympathetic, but they all have their own problems to solve and their own houses to set in order first. read more
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By Joel Anderson
President and CEO of International Warehouse Logistics Association
Competition for international trade is changing as the global recession caused shippers and receivers to reevaluate their supply chains. For the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, this means restoring their reputation as freight friendly distribution points and mini-bridge centers. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach need to act quickly before ports elsewhere use the current reputation of the southern California ports to shift the focus of Asian import trade from the West Coast to other ports in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. read more
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By George Cunningham
Port of Long Beach Harbor Commissioners approved a $716 million budget last week that includes the transfer of an additional $12 million to the city Tidelands Operating Fund - a transfer that may never happen, although City Council members have already approved plans on how they intend to spend it. read more
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The problem with making the big bucks is that both you and your employer know that there are plenty of folks out there who will do the work for less. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit leaders returned to the bargaining table this weekend in an effort to protect their turf and make sure that the 14 terminal operators and ocean carrier agencies that employ their members don't send their work elsewhere. read more
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By Mike Jacob
Pacific Merchant Shipping Association
The Port of Oakland has a problem - the California Air Resources Board has pulled a bait-and-switch on them regarding cold-ironing. First, $1 billion in voter-approved funds for port and trade corridor air quality projects is dangled in front of them for shore power infrastructure, and then the Air Board sticks them with a $120 million mandate instead that in turn makes the voter funds mostly off-limits. Even if CARB were to do the right thing and give Oakland the tens of millions requested, they'd still only be 50 percent of the way toward funding the infrastructure they need to build to comply with the State's shore power mandates. read more
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PierPass President Bruce Wargo was at both the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles board meetings last week doing damage control over reports that the Southern California port complex may be headed for gridlock. Trucking companies at the ports are up in arms over what they say is long turn-times and poor service at the terminals. Wargo noted the devastating economic downturn that has impacted everybody in the supply chain and said that as cargo volumes begin picking up, many of the cuts in service taken during the crisis to reduce costs are now being reversed. He also noted that the drayage industry, which had been hauling containers in $12,000 trucks, is now driving $100,000 trucks, thanks to the ports' Clean Truck Programs. Owners are looking for a way to find a return on that investment, he said. read more
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John Wolfe's appointment as CEO of the Port of Tacoma became official last week as commissioners approved a $220,000 annual salary for the 45-year old former deputy executive director who recently celebrated his fifth anniversary at the port. As Wolfe moves into the top slot, he faces considerable challenges that he prefers to term "opportunities." read more
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Frustrated trucking executives warned Tuesday that the Los Angeles-Long Beach harbor area may be facing gridlock later this summer if nothing is done to head it off. The warnings came at a tumultuous Harbor Transportation Club dinner meeting in Long Beach, where representatives of the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach were pelted with questions about what the ports planned to do. The trucking company folks complained about long lines at terminal gates resulting in long turn times for truck drivers to pick up and deliver their loads. They also warned that although the fleet of trucks that service the two ports is cleaner, it is also considerably smaller - down from about 16,000 before the ports instituted their Clean Truck Programs to about 7,500 trucks today. read more
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Terminal operators at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach are planning to require trucking companies to make appointments to pick up and deliver cargo, but a survey shows three-quarters of trucking execs think that hasn't been helpful in the past. read more
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With their contract due to expire at midnight Wednesday, members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union's office clerical unit in Southern California are taking a strike authorization vote. Results of the vote are expected to be tallied by today (6/28) or Tuesday. read more
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The mood at the FuturePorts "Clearing the Air" event Tuesday in San Pedro was relatively upbeat with speakers noting the bounce back of container traffic coming through the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach, but warning that competition for future cargo will be intense. read more
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Nick Sramek was elected to a second consecutive term as Harbor Commission president at the Port of Long Beach last week. Although the board has always voted for its officers, those positions used to be rotated yearly as a matter of policy. That changed in 2008, in response to evolution of the commission presidency from being just a figurehead position to a position of greater influence. read more
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Although it doesn't usually meet on the fourth Monday of the month, the Port of Long Beach board is meeting today (6/28) to approve a budget resolution for the 2010-11 fiscal year. At the heart of the action are requests from the city council to accelerate payment of a 10 percent slice of port net earnings to the city Tidelands Operating Fund by a year, to not include the previous year's contribution as an expense when calculating the following year's contribution, and to contribute another $6 million to cover aquarium bonds. That aquarium contribution would be reimbursed through the redevelopment agency. A port staff memo says accelerating the payment by a year - essentially making two payments in the same year - would require reducing port spending on operations even further, delaying capital improvements, drawing down port reserves, or some combination of the three. read more
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After months of speculation, the Port of Los Angeles will lower the required number of annual trips required for trucking companies to earn $20,000-per-truck incentives for putting new clean trucks into port drayage service. When the reduced requirements kick in, close to 77 percent of the trucks in question will meet the lower annual trip minimums. Companies will have to refund a portion of the incentive money for trucks that don't meet the lowered minimum number of trips. read more
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The Long Beach City Council has approved a new timeline for the port to contribute its yearly tithe to the city's Tidelands Operation Fund, one that would result in a one-time-only double shot of port profits in the coming year. According to the city charter, the port has the option to transfer 10 percent of its yearly net income to the Tidelands fund, which pays for police, fire, lifeguards and beach maintenance in the Tidelands area. The port has never opted out of the transfer. read more
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Air pollution from the Port of Long Beach continued to drop in 2009, putting the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles on the verge of reducing harmful emissions by 45 percent, ahead of their 2011 goal. According to a report released last week, overall emissions of harmful pollutants from the Long Beach port were reduced by more than 44 percent since 2005, the baseline year used by the ports in the Clean Air Action Plan. read more
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Container stats for West Coast ports continue to get better with every port showing double digit increases in May 2010 over May 2009, except one - the Port of Tacoma, where total container stats for May were down 13.0 percent. read more
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Every major construction project at the Port of Los Angeles soon will be built under a master Project Labor Agreement. The master agreement, which will be part of the packet whenever the port seeks bids on a big contract, is expected to be drafted and sent back to the harbor commission for final approval as soon as the end of summer. A Project Labor Agreement - commonly called a PLA - sets out the labor standards for building a project - such as wages, dispute resolution, and benefits. Such agreements have become common for large-scale public works projects that involve multiple subcontractors and tasks that require skilled labor. read more
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Freshly retired Port of Los Angeles Director of Environmental Management Dr. Ralph Appy and Port of Long Beach Director of Environmental Planning Rick Cameron were together again at the joint International Business Association-Propeller Club luncheon last week. The two men - who have spent most of their last four years planning, implementing, promoting and defending the San Pedro Bay Clean Air Action Plan - spent much of the meeting talking about what went right during the past four years. read more
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Several hundred Pro-Palestinian demonstrators were on the streets at the Port of Oakland on Sunday protesting the arrival and working of the container ship Zim Shenzhen, operated by the Israeli-based Zim Shipping Line. The protestors were angry over the May 31 Israeli raid on a flotilla of six vessels carrying relief supplies to Gaza. The Israelis have blockaded the port to stop weapons and ammo from reaching enemy forces. read more
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When John Wolfe takes over the helm at the Port of Tacoma, he will have a different title than his predecessor Tim Farrell. During the executive search process, commissioners decided that the title CEO better fits the job description than executive director and is widely recognized in the international business world. read more
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With the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico about to enter its eighth week, West Coast agencies are trying to help contain what has already become the worst environmental disaster in American history. The Coast Guard has sent active personnel and reserves from stations throughout California, Washington and Oregon to help with containment of the spill, including marine environmental response personnel, inspectors and other experts. Captain Roger Laferriere, commander of the Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach, is currently the on-site commander in Houma, La. Deputy Sector Commander John Caplis is running the Los Angeles-Long Beach operation during Laferriere's absence. read more
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City, port and army folks joined together on Pier F at the Port of Long Beach on a gray Tuesday morning last week to celebrate the movement of mud from the bottom of the Port of Long Beach main channel to an empty slip at the ITS terminal on Pier G. Although the ceremony officially launched the $40 million project, the actual work by Manson Construction Co. has been going on for weeks. read more
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More than likely, it is possible to build a system for moving containers from point A to B that doesn't pollute the air. The question is can it operate efficiently in a port environment where points A and B are busy docks and rail yards? If the answer is yes, the next question is whether such a system is economically feasible. The Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles are expected to get answers to both questions late next month. read more
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The Port of Long Beach, the Port of Los Angeles and the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority aren't the only ones looking at a Zero Emissions Container Mover System. A green cargo moving system is also under consideration as one component for the proposed expansion of the Long Beach (710) freeway. read more
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The credit crunch that has slowed the construction of wind farms in the U.S., and increased domestic production of wind power components, hasn't dashed the hopes of some West Coast seaports that wind-related imports will continue to be strong in the foreseeable future. read more
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Good news in Southern California with both the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles container stats for May showing strong growth over the dark days of May 2009. Long Beach showed May containerized imports up 26.8 percent over the same period last year, exports up 14.5 percent, and total volume up 25.1 percent. On the other side of San Pedro Bay, Los Angeles reported a 12.5 percent increase in imports, a 5.3 percent increase in exports, and a 19.9 percent increase in total container volume. The Port of Oakland, Port of Tacoma, and Port of Seattle have not released their May figures yet. read more
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Citing his passion, commitment to his community, and "need to win", Port of Tacoma Commissioners have selected John Wolfe as the new executive director of the Port of Tacoma. read more
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Folks from the California Air Resources Board got less than a warm welcome in Oakland last week at a meeting to review how much in state bond funding the CARB staff is recommending for the Bay Area corridor. The Port of Oakland had asked for $39.1 million to help set up shore-power facilities for ships calling at the port. CARB is expected to allocate $20 million in funding to Oakland for shore power this month, and will tentatively allocate another $3.9 million in funding next year. read more
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If they haven't hit the mark already, the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach are close to reaching their 2005 goal of cutting harmful air pollution from port-related operations by at least 45 percent within five years. Port officials aren't declaring victory yet, but the results of their latest emissions inventory suggest they could today if they wanted. Data released last week by the Port of Los Angeles shows harmful air emissions dropped an average of 47 percent from 2005 to 2009. When adjusted for the decline in cargo, the drop in emissions still averages more than 41 percent - just shy of the five-year goal. read more
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Contractors who think they have the right stuff to be the primary builders on the proposed Pier 400 marine oil terminal project will soon have the chance to pre-qualify to compete for the job. The Port of Los Angeles is preparing to launch the prequalification search for potential contractors, although the schedule has yet to be determined. read more
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U.S. exporters of agricultural products are likely to give ocean carriers an earful about the woes they are facing in getting their products to market when they convene this week in San Francisco for the 23rd annual Agriculture Transportation Conference. With a few exceptions, exporters of products ranging from almonds to wheat say they still do not have enough containers or ample space on ships to fill their orders in a timely manner. With competition heating up from suppliers in other countries, it is likely that even those exporters who have yet to lose sales may do so in the future. read more
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They'll start dredging up the dirt at the Port of Long Beach Tuesday morning as city and federal officials gather to officially kick off the $40 million Main Channel Deepening Project. The project will improve navigation in the channel, which passes beneath the Gerald Desmond Bridge, allow tankers to come in fully loaded, and provide about 180 jobs over 17 months. Among the folks expected to participate in the ceremonies are Mayor Bob Foster, Army Corps of Engineers district commander Col Thomas Magness, Harbor Commissioner VP Mario Cordero, and port Executive Director Dick Steinke. read more
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Port of Long Beach commissioners said last week that they were all behind handing over $4,020,993 to the city's Tidelands Operating Fund a month early, but ended up entangled in a lengthy discussion about the interest they would be losing. read more
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The long-established practice of licensed motor carriers hiring owner-operators to haul containers in and out of the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach is under fire at the federal, state and local levels of government, as well as from organized labor. Members of the House Transportation Subcommittee on Highways and Transit called for a Congressional investigation of driver status following a May 5 hearing on the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports' clean truck programs. read more
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Labor attorney Bob Roginson, at a Harbor Truckers for a Sustainable Future meeting last week, reviewed some of the tests used to determine whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee. For example: read more
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The Harbor Truckers for a Sustainable Future is changing its name to the Harbor Trucking Association and launching a strategy aimed at boosting its political power within the port drayage industry, as well as the community image of it. The organization has contracted with attorney Alex Cherin, the former managing director of trade and transportation at the Port of Long Beach, and Shaun Lumachi of Chamber Advocacy to help manage its transformation to a power player. read more
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Port of Tacoma commissioners have narrowed their search for a new executive director to five finalists who will be interviewed in June. read more
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Heightened demand for U.S. logs is leading to a boom in exports at two seaports in the Pacific Northwest. read more
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The Army Corps of Engineers will present its findings on a proposed reconfiguration of the federal breakwater off Long Beach to the Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor Safety Committee at 10 a.m., Wednesday. The Army Corps L.A. District office told the community last week that it planned to recommend approval of a study to determine the feasibility of the reconfiguration - backed by surfers and environmentalists who claim the breakwater blocks the waves and inhibits circulation of the water. The recommendation would have to be approved by the Army Corps office in San Francisco. The study would take three to four years to complete and cost up to $8 million with the city paying half. The Pacific Merchant Shipping Association and Jacobsen Pilot Service sent a letter to the Army Corps earlier this month expressing their concerns about the proposed reconfiguration and urging a meeting with industry. read more
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Folks from both labor and management were in Long Beach Thursday, talking about ongoing threats to the California supply chain and plotting strategies about how to protect the jobs and economic benefits it provides from zealous state regulation and new competition from both north and south of the U.S. border. read more
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The Port of Los Angeles is tightening its belt for another year. Harbor commissioners last week approved a $909.6 million budget for fiscal year 2010-11, a reduction of nearly 20 percent compared with its projected budget for the current year. And even when compared to the smaller amount that the port actually expects to spend of its current budget, next year's budget is still down 3.4 percent. Operating revenues for the coming year reflect a modest growth of 2 percent in container volumes, but an overall 5.3 percent decline in income largely, due to the drop in clean truck program fees. read more
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The Washington Board of Pilotage Commissioners has approved an across-the-board 3-percent increase in the $30 million annual tariff for Puget Sound pilots. The only exceptions to the increase apply to surcharges for transportation and pilot training, which will remain unchanged. read more
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The Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots has endorsed a recommendation of an administrative law judge that establishes a target income of $214,447 per year for both bar pilots and river pilots along the Columbia River. In doing so, the nine-member board approved a settlement reached earlier this year between the bar pilots and ports along the Columbia River, and recommended a far lower income than river pilots had requested. read more
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Gambol Industries, Inc., which has proposed a small shipyard complex on the site of the former Southwest Marine shipyard site at the Port of Los Angeles, may need a miracle to get the project built. read more
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The year 2014 is going to be particularly challenging for West Coast ports, Port of Seattle officials were told last week. Not only will the expansion of the Panama Canal be completed that year - making it easier for shippers to divert cargo to the East Coast - but the Canadian Port of Prince Rupert also is slated to complete its Phase 2 expansion that year, which will quadruple the port's container capacity to 2 million TEUs. read more
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Everybody is happy that the air is cleaner at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach, but now Congress wants to know more about those agreements that trucking companies are using to lease clean trucks to independent contract drivers. Congressional staff investigators have sent letters to trucking companies seeking information about how those leases work and whether or not they are a ruse to get around laws distinguishing employee-drivers from non-employee contract drivers. The probe follows a May 5 hearing by the House Transportation subcommittee on the ports' clean truck programs and the effort by the Port of Los Angeles to require the trucking companies servicing the port to use only employee-drivers. read more
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Nearly 11 months after the Port of Los Angeles and Gambol Industries agreed to sit down and see if it's really possible to convert the former Southwest Marine facility into a modern shipyard, port staff are reporting that it could be done but at great expense and massive disruption to the final leg of the port's channel-deepening project. read more
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Chevron and the City of Richmond have decided to play nice and drop their dueling ballot measures over Chevron's utility user tax bill. Earlier this year, city officials sponsored a ballot measure that would force the refinery to pay a 10 percent utility user tax similar to that paid by Richmond residents on their gas and electric bills. City officials said that the "End Chevron's Perks" measure would generate millions of dollars in annual revenues for the cash-strapped city. read more
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Chevron last week continued to move forward on the plan that it announced back in March to cut about 2,000 downstream workers worldwide this year. At the time, the big news on the West Coast was that Chevron was not going to close its Richmond refinery despite the running feud between the company and the city over how much local government spending Chevron should be expected to pay for through taxes. read more
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An administrative law judge in Portland, Ore. has recommended target net incomes of $214,447 per year for both bar pilots and river pilots along the Columbia River. The recommendations match a settlement arrived at earlier this spring between the bar pilots and seaports along the river, but fall substantially short of the increase requested by the river pilots. read more
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The Port of Long Beach is holding back on long-term testing of the "sock-on-a-stack" emissions filter built by Advanced Cleanup Technologies Inc. (ACTI) after reports surfaced that the company was bouncing checks. read more
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Port of Portland officials say that Westwood Shipping Lines' new service to the Columbia River port will reach a market that was lost when "K" Line announced it was discontinuing its direct service between Portland and Japan early last year. read more
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Both sides submitted their final briefs on Friday in the court battle between the American Trucking Associations and the Port of Los Angeles over the port's clean truck concession program. The fight between the trucking association and the port is not over standards for clean trucks, but over the port's authority as a local public agency to allow only trucking companies that obtain a port concession to service port terminals. Along with that port concession go many requirements that the trucking companies and their customers consider onerous. At the top of that list is the requirement that the companies use only employee-drivers to service the port, not independent contract drivers. The ATA claims in its brief that the federal government is in charge of regulating interstate government, not local agencies. The port argues in its brief that it is both a public agency and a business, and as a business it can set standards for the companies it chooses to do business with. The ATA wants the court to find that the port's concession plan is pre-empted by federal law and should be permanently enjoined. The port wants the court to reject the ATA request and let it get on with its clean truck program. read more
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After hearing lengthy testimonies containing "a lot of troubling contradictions" last week, members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said they would conduct a more thorough investigation into a proposed amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act. read more
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Port of Los Angeles harbor commissioners seem ready to cut some slack for some trucking companies that were paid a $20,000-per-truck incentive bonus to bring their low-emission trucks to haul port cargo, but failed to make the required 300 moves-per-year requirement. The port board was informed two months ago that up to 70 percent of the 2,200 privately financed clean trucks are not making enough moves for participants to keep the full bonus. At Thursday's board meeting, port staff outlined possible changes to help trucking companies keep all or part of the incentive money. read more
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Due to manufacturing delays, folks who work at public agencies will get more time to administer a grant program to put clean, new alternative fuel trucks into drayage service at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach, but truckers waiting for the new models won't get a similar pass. Depending on how much longer it takes for the new trucks to arrive, operators waiting to replace their pre-2004 models could be sidelined for nearly two months. read more
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Commissioners at the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles are considering whether they are paying too much for PortCheck to collect their clean truck fee. Income from the fee is dwindling - more than 90 percent of the trucks regularly calling at the ports are clean- and the ports want the administrative costs to drop as well. PortCheck is the non-profit entity formed by the marine terminal operators to collect the fee on the ports' behalf. read more
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Port executives from three very different West Coast ports were on hand last week at the 10th annual California Maritime Leadership Symposium in Sacramento to talk about the State of California ports and some of the challenges they are facing. read more
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Port of Portland commissioners are expected to approve a 25-year lease this week with ICTSI Oregon, Inc. for the operation of a 192-acre container and breakbulk facility at Terminal 6. read more
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California Cartage Co. President Bob Curry - who was honored by the Long Beach Chamber last week as the "Entrepreneur of the Year" - took the occasion to warn of congestion problems ahead at the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles unless problems at the terminals are addressed. Curry, the dean of the Southern California harbor drayage industry, was being honored for his work in bringing clean and alternative-fuel drayage trucks to the port trucking fleet. He noted that the ports had plenty of capacity to handle the current increase in cargo, but said unless terminal operators do something to amend their inconsistent hours there could be major problems come August. read more
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The Alaska legislature passed a $46 per passenger tax in 2007 in response to a voter referendum. The state tax - combined with increased taxes at some individual Alaska ports - can total as much a $61 per passenger. read more
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Executives from four Pacific Northwest ports - small, medium, and large - were in WashingtonD.C. on Thursday, testifying before a Senate Finance subcommittee on problems exporters are encountering trying to get their products to the global marketplace. The hearing before the subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness was called both to support President Barack Obama's initiative to double U.S. exports and to look into complaints by frustrated exporters. read more
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The ultimate decision of the nine-member Washington Board of Pilotage Commissioners will impact the operating budget for the 50-plus pilots that now navigate ships into the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma, along with smaller ports in the Puget Sound region. read more
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Representatives from some of the compliant trucking companies attended an Oakland Trucker Workgroup meeting in March and learned that CARB and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District were considering a deadline extension until June 30 for some truckers. Following the meeting, the trucking representatives contacted other complaint companies and asked them to protest the extension. read more
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Officials at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District said that 566 truckers failed to have diesel particulate filters installed on their trucks by the April 30 deadline. read more
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Meanwhile, the political campaign by the Teamsters and their allies in the environmental movement to change the law that limits local agencies when it comes to regulating trucking is heating up in Washington, D.C. New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler has finally sent the letter he has been circulating among his colleagues to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar and ranking minority member Rep. John Mica. The letter urges that the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act - dubbed F4A - be changed to let ports regulate trucking. Final count - Nadler got 78 of his fellow representatives to sign on. read more
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The long-awaited federal trial that could change the face of port trucking around the nation began last week in Los Angeles with each side staking out its territory. At issue is whether or not a local agency - in this case the Port of Los Angeles - has the authority to regulate trucking for vehicles servicing its facilities, including a ban on independent contract drivers.
The main issue in the case is the port's Clean Truck Program requirement that all drivers from trucking companies that service the ports be employees - a mandate being pushed by the Teamsters Union, which hopes to organize the port trucking industry. read more
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The issues over how far ports can go to regulate trucking may be a legal question, but the political side of the issue is beginning to pop up in both expected and unexpected places. Last week, the Federal Maritime Commission - the same commission that earlier took both Southern California ports to court in an attempt to head off port plans to regulate trucking - honored the Port of Los Angeles for its clean truck program success. The Port of Long Beach next door, which had almost identical success with its almost identical clean truck program, was ignored. read more
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Executives at oil refineries in Washington State are breathing easier now that a proposed hike in the state's hazardous materials tax has failed to make it through the state legislature. The oil folks estimate that the proposed increase would have cost them another $186 million per year. read more
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You don't hear much about the Los Angeles Port Community Advisory Commission these days. There was a time when the harbor-area citizen's committee - with 35 voting members plus alternates - was in the middle of everything at the Port of Los Angeles. And while opinions on the power of PCAC differ, most agree that it is not the force it once was. read more
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Vessels calling at Puget Sound ports will soon have to pay for a stand-by tug to be parked at Neah Bay near the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. read more
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While several West Coast ports have experienced modest gains in their first quarter container counts this year, the Port of Prince Rupert, BC is having another gangbuster year. read more
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The Port of Long Beach is adding an overhaul of its firefighting resources to its to-do list, after a study showed that its current capabilities are inadequate for a modern, post-9/11 port. read more
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Even though the Port of Tacoma's container counts were down again in March, the port's container lifts at its four intermodal yards were up 20 percent over March, 2009. During March 2010, the port handled 30,716 intermodal container lifts - the most monthly intermodal lifts the port has handled in the last 18 months. read more
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Will terminal operators at the Port of Los Angeles and other businesses in the city be paying higher electric bills starting July 1? The answer as of now seems to be either absolutely or maybe. The City Council voted a couple of weeks ago to allow the city Department of Water and Power to hike rates by about 4.8 percent, depending on the customer. Now some Council people say they didn't mean for the rate hike to be permanent, but only for three months. It now appears the DWP will have some explaining to do before the Council's Energy and Environmental Committee on Tuesday - the council's last day to take action on the rate hike. read more
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The Port of Los Angeles efforts to amend federal interstate trucking laws may be gaining traction - at least among Democratic members of Congress. So far 52 Congress members have signed the "Clean Trucks Legislation" to the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure that calls for amending the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, which governs interstate commerce. read more
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A new San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan with updated, restated and recalculated strategies and goals was released for public review on Wednesday by the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. It is expected go before the harbor commissions at the two ports for approval this summer. The joint draft document expands on where the original Clean Air Action Plan - adopted by the two ports in 2006 - leaves off. It is less sweeping than the original plan and will almost certainly be less controversial. The low-hanging fruit has been picked. read more
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Port of Oakland officials report that 92 dirty trucks have been replaced and 706 have been retrofitted with diesel emission filters as a result of the port's clean truck program. Another 95 replacement trucks and 102 retrofit devices are on order. read more
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If the air in Wilmington and San Pedro seems cleaner than it used to be, it's not your imagination. The Port of Los Angeles, which released data from four harbor-area air quality monitoring stations last week, reported that diesel particulate in Wilmington in 2009 had declined 45 percent from what it was in 2006 and declined 34 percent over the same period in San Pedro. read more
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Plans for the Port of Long Beach's proposed container terminal at Pier S continue to crawl through the development and regulatory process, more than 15 years since the port purchased the property. read more
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In what is promising to be an ugly battle, the Chevron refinery in Richmond is going head to head with officials in that city over the amount of utility user taxes the refinery should pay to the city. read more
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Port of Seattle commissioners have approved a $3.4 million contribution to the widening of the Spokane Street Viaduct and improvements to the lower Spokane roadway. read more
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Ag Processing Inc. is planning a 13.5-acre expansion of its agriculture product export facility at the Port of Grays Harbor in Aberdeen, Wash. The expanded facility will handle soybean meal, grains, distillers grains, gluten meal and beet pulp pellets that are shipped to the facility via rail and exported to customers in Pacific Rim counties. read more
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A new zero-emission big rig that combines a hydrogen fuel cell with an electric motor will soon join the Port of Los Angeles fleet. The Class 8 electric/hydrogen hybrid Tyrano was built in El Segundo by Santa Monica-based Vision Industries Corp. The hydrogen fuel cell charges the lithium-ion batteries used to power the truck. The company says the vehicle has 400 horsepower, 3,200 foot-pounds of torque, and a range of about 400 miles. Savings per mile are estimated at from 35 to 65 percent compared to diesel and natural gas trucks. Sound too good to be true? That's what the port hopes to find out. The port has agreed to pay no more than $280,000 for the first truck, including sales tax. It will use the Tyrano to pull its TransPORTer exhibit - a walk-in trailer that features port information and exhibits. Negotiations are continuing for additional Tyranos to evaluate their drayage potential. read more
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The Clean Air Action Plan was always billed as a living document, and true to their words, the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach this afternoon released an updated version of the plan with new "San Pedro Bay Standards" for clean air and updated goals. read more
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About 500 industry folks gathered for the Port of Long Beach annual Pulse of the Port breakfast forecast on Wednesday to hear that this year is expected to be much better than last year, but still not as good as two or three years ago. The peak season peek, which began in 2005, has grown in popularity with hundreds of folks getting up early to hear experts from across the industry give their perspectives on what to expect in the coming year. Since the port started streaming the event on the internet, the international audience has grown as well. read more
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Even though last week's closure of the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) plant in Fremont, Calif. will wreak havoc on the Bay Area's economy, officials at the Port of Oakland say the plant's closure will not have much of an impact on the port. Latest statistics show that the NUMMI plant imported only about 5,000 to 7,000 TEUs of auto parts through Oakland annually.  "Many of the auto parts used at the facility were sourced from domestic suppliers," explained port spokesperson Marilyn Sandifer. read more
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Ports up and down the West Coast continue to post auto import numbers that are only a shadow of their former selves, despite the efforts of government stimulus programs. read more
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Tenants at the Port of Los Angeles and other businesses in the city have gotten a 91-day reprieve from a proposed major increase in their electric bill. Instead they will get a minor increase - about 0.1 cents per kilowatt hour rather than the originally proposed 0.8 cents per kilowatt hour or either of the proposed compromise increases of either 0.6 cents per kilowatt hour or 0.7 cents per kilowatt hour. read more
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The Port of Los Angeles and Balqon Corp were showing off their first production XE20 electric, zero-emission yard tractors on Wednesday at an all-day Ride and Drive event at Berth 87. Balqon is getting ready to deliver 20 of the new heavy-duty trucks to a container terminal for a real-world debut. read more
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Five folks from the Tesoro Refinery in Anacortes are dead and two are in critical condition after an early morning explosion and fire on Friday. The facility - which supplies gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel to customers in the Pacific Northwest - has capacity to handle about 120,000 barrels of crude a day. The company has reduced its production at the refinery to about one-third of normal. The state Labor and Industries Department cited the facility last year for 17 serious safety violations and fined it $85,000. The Tesoro refinery and marine terminal is located about 70 miles north of Seattle. read more
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The California Air Resources Board has completed its analysis of what implementing its massive climate change program will cost the state's economy and concluded - to nobody's surprise - that it will not have a negative impact. read more
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The Economic and Allocation Advisory Committee has submitted its final report to the California Air Resources Board recommending that the state auction off allowances for greenhouse gases as part of a cap-and-trade market. Under the plan, businesses and public entities would bid on such allocations, which could be used to help the companies meet their state-mandated goals for reducing greenhouse gases, which many believe contribute to global warming. read more
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In struggle over power rates in the city of Los Angeles, Port of Los Angeles officials and tenants are just beginning to wrap their brains around the economic impact of a proposed electricity rate hike on their operations. read more
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The International Maritime Organization, which met in London last week, approved an emission control area for the U.S. and Canada that will require all ships within 200 nautical miles of the coast to use low-sulfur fuel. It was hailed as a victory for both the maritime industry and environmentalists. read more
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Although reducing the sulfur content of fuel is expected to lower the health risk associated with ships emissions, it will also accelerate global warming, according to a recent report in London-based New Scientist magazine. It turns out, according to the report, that pumping all that sulfur into the air cools down the earth by creating a haze that reflects sunlight and combines with water droplets to make clouds. read more
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Exporters and West Coast seaport executives fell victim to political infighting last week when a U.S. Senate subcommittee meeting was cancelled at the last minute - before scheduled witnesses had an opportunity to describe what they think should be done to help exporters get their products to market. read more
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While the other four major West Coast container ports are seeing their box numbers rebound, the Port of Tacoma continues to chalk up losses. February container stats show imports down 24.4 percent from February 2009, exports down 17.4 percent, and domestic traffic (Alaska and Hawaii) up 4.0 percent for a total loss of 18.3 percent. Much of that lost volume has gone to the nearby Port of Seattle, which saw February imports soar 84 percent over the same period last year, exports jump 49.2 percent, and domestic cargo drop 0.3 percent for a total gain of 48.5 percent. For the same period, Port of Los Angeles was up 27 percent' Port of Long Beach was up 29.9 percent, and Port of Oakland up 17.2 percent. read more
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Air quality officials have extended the deadline for some Oakland area truckers to install diesel soot filters on their trucks, but that extension has not prevented some installers from questioning the value of the retrofits, or the Oakland mayor from asking for more funds and the option to use the funds for newer trucks instead of retrofits. read more
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When the California Sub-Committee on Ports and Goods Movement asked four economists for their advice on the future of ports and goods movement, they got a variety of viewpoints. Three of the four advised legislators to develop the infrastructure, promote trade, and provide job opportunities in the logistics industry. One, however, was lukewarm on the future of the state's ports and tentative about what kind of steps the state should take to promote the industry. Jon Haveman of Beacon Economics agreed that the current global recession had devastated the goods movement industry, but he was less optimistic about how long it would take to recover. read more
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Three of the economists testifying at the California Senate Ports and Goods Movement Subcommittee hearing last week offered a mix of good and bad news. read more
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Riverside may have lost the first round, but it's not leaving the courtroom yet. In the wake of a ruling rejecting the position that the Port of Los Angeles failed to adequately study the environmental impacts of the China Shipping project on the city, the Riverside City Council has decided to appeal. But whether pursuing the matter is successful - either in getting a different legal outcome or a negotiated settlement - remains to be seen. read more
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In the wake of reports from U.S. exporters who say they cannot find equipment or vessel space to ship their products overseas, the Federal Maritime Commission has voted to initiate a fact-finding investigation into the matter. Additionally, members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, who listened to testimony from the exporters last week, will meet again this week "to examine in more depth the state of the U.S. flagged fleet." read more
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The Port of Tacoma is selling its controversial Maytown property. read more
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The Port of Los Angeles yacht, the Angelina II, will soon be the first vessel of its kind to run on an ultra low emission hybrid drive technology. The port board has approved a contract with EnergyTech Marine Group of San Diego to retrofit the vessel with a cleaner-burning engine, known as the Hybrid Propulsion System. The retrofit will replace the existing 40-year-old engines - which will soon be prohibited under state mandates - with two battery-operated electric motors for propulsion. The batteries can be charged either by on-board diesel electric generators or external power. The new system is expected to cut fuel costs and emissions by 95 percent and cut total energy usage in half. The contract is capped at $480,000 and is fully reimbursable with federal stimulus funds. read more
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After a long dry spell, cargo is beginning to flow once more through California ports, according to container figures released by the Port of Long Beach, Port of Los Angeles, and Port of Oakland last week. The question is whether it's the beginning of a gusher or just a temporary spike that will trickle out in weeks to come. In either case two things are clear. It's welcome news, and there's still a long way to go. read more
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Citing "regulatory processes and delays," Plains All American Pipeline has had to renegotiate contracts with customers and downsize the initial scope of its marine oil terminal planned for Pier 400 at the Port of Los Angeles. The company reported the setbacks in its recent 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Due primarily to regulatory processes and delays, we did not meet certain project milestone dates and other economic conditions set forth in our agreements with our customers, and we could not meet certain key conditions in each of our agreements. As of the end of 2009, we have formally canceled two of three agreements and are in the process of canceling a third agreement. We are in discussions with each of the three key customers and are working on developing new replacement agreements that reflect revised terms and conditions and a downsized initial project," the report says. read more
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The Port of Los Angeles is doing the math on the companies that received its $20,000 incentive for every clean truck they brought into service in the harbor and, while the air is cleaner, the gate moves aren't adding up. read more
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The Port of Long Beach last year offered its own incentive program to help put more clean trucks into local service. The choices in that program were lease-to-own, partial grant, or retrofit assistance deals. read more
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Chevron senior executives last week said they expect downstream market conditions to be difficult over the next several years and that the company intends to focus its downstream efforts on North America and the Asia-Pacific regions where the company has its greatest strength. Translation: The Chevron refinery and marine terminal in Richmond - where the city and company are locked in battle over development projects and high local taxes and fees - as well as other U.S. locations are safe, at least for now. read more
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Charlie Sheldon may be leaving the Port of Seattle to pursue other dreams, but he won't be missed because he's not going far. Sheldon says he is not retiring and will continue to work "around the waterfront." read more
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The Port of Seattle ended 2009 in the black, despite reductions in revenues last year. Total operating revenues were $37.5 million below budget last year, with $20 million of the reductions due to losses in aeronautical revenues at Sea Tac airport. read more
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Superior Court Judge Ronald Bauer has rejected a request from the City of Riverside that would have shut down work on expansion of the China Shipping Terminal at the Port of Los Angeles and forced the port to redo its Environmental Impact Report. read more
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Even though President Obama has established a goal of doubling U.S. exports over the next five years, agricultural growers across the country say their exports are being stymied by a lack of equipment and a lack of space on vessels to carry products overseas. read more
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The Port of Long Beach board voted 4-0 to approve a Project Labor Agreement for development of its Middle Harbor Project after hearing from the Mayor, two members of the City Council, and more than a dozen union members all in favor of the idea. They also heard from three folks against it, one representing Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who sent along a less-than-subtle message about the possible consequences of approving the measure. read more
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The Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach are considering which is the better strategy - keeping a never-used container fee on the books to show they can raise matching funds for infrastructure grants, or eliminating it so that other ports can't point to the potential fee when competing against Southern California for discretionary cargo. read more
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John McLaurin is well known as one of the West Coast maritime industry's most prominent advocates. But at the 10th Annual Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference last week in Long Beach, the head of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association came to lobby his own industry. read more
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The panel that promised fireworks at last week's Trans-Pacific Maritime conference instead delivered a cordial exchange that highlighted some of the basic differences at the heart of the court battles over the clean truck programs at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. read more
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Tacoma officials say that Horizon's decision will preserve about 150 terminal-related jobs at the port and will allow the port to maintain a diversified balance of business between international and domestic services. read more
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The folks from the South Coast Air Quality Management District held their monthly meeting in Long Beach on Friday, during which they updated folks on their proposed backup rules for making sure the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles reduce their fair share of emissions from the movement of cargo ... Linda Styrk has been promoted to the position of managing director of the Port of Seattle's Seaport Division ... The same federal judge who approved the settlement between the Port of Long Beach and the American Trucking Associations over the port's clean truck concession plan will hear the challenge that seeks to overturn the deal. read more
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When the economy begin to nose dive in 2008, ocean carriers began cutting rates to keep market share, Hyundai Merchant Marine Vice President David Arsenault told the Propeller Club Wednesday in Long Beach. That was not sustainable, he said. When you are losing money on every transaction, you can't make it up in volume. read more
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It wasn't exactly a surprise last week when the 9th Circuit Court turned down a request by the American Trucking Associations to expand the temporary injunction against the Port of Los Angeles clean truck concession program, except for one minor point. The three judges on the appellate panel had indicated during discussions back in November that they would be reluctant to get further involved in the battle going on at the district court level between the ATA and the port. read more
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Natural gas merchant Clean Energy Fuels is expanding the range of alternatively-fueled trucks in Southern California, although some skeptics claim that the natural-gas fueled vehicles may not be any cleaner and are less efficient than modern diesel-powered engines. read more
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New truck retrofit technology that may make it possible for a six-year old truck to meet 2010 emissions standards will soon be tested in Southern California. The product has been developed by Shadowood Technology, Inc. of Southfield, Mich., and is currently on the EPA's emerging technologies list for clean diesel products. Shadowood officials say that the product, known as the TEC 2010, is currently being tested on model year 2004-2006 trucks in Texas and Virginia and will be tested in Southern California this summer. read more
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Teamster boss Jim Hoffa was among those honoring Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in Washington D.C. last week at a reception hosted by the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports. The mayor was on a three-day lobbying trip to the nation's capital. Other folks at the event included Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Richard Lidinsky, several members of Congress, and folks from the Sierra Club, the L.A. Alliance for a New Economy and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Hoffa praised the mayor for understanding "the connection between port pollution and the difficult economic situation and working conditions of thousands of port truck drivers in L.A." read more
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A panel of rail executives said Wednesday that their companies were willing to invest in technology, but that there is no single "silver bullet" answer to all the challenges faced by railroads today. And, they emphasized, every solution has to strike a balance between cost and benefits. read more
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BergerABAM Engineers, Inc. of Federal Way, Wash. has agreed to pay the Port of Seattle $185,000 for costs associated with the delayed opening the port's T30 container terminal due to a design error. The terminal went through an extensive renovation last year to convert it from a cruise terminal to a container terminal. read more
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One day after the 9th Circuit Appellate Court denied a motion by the American Trucking Associations for an expanded injunction against the Port of Los Angeles clean truck concession plan, the district court judge in the case has denied motions for a summary judgment. Trial date has been set for April 20. read more
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The American Trucking Associations suffered a setback today as the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal refused to overturn a District Court ruling and order the current temporary injunction against the Port of Los Angeles truck concession program to be expanded. It was the second time the ATA had appealed the rulings of District Court Judge Christina Snyder. The first time the Appellate Court had agreed that certain elements of the port's concession plan - such as a requirement for companies to use only employee drivers - seemed to be preempted by the federal government. read more
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The five major West Coast container ports posted their January numbers last week and the results were a mixed bag - ranging from spectacular to not-so-hot. But the big picture seems to be that the ports have ended their slick slide into cargo oblivion and are ready to begin the slow and laborious climb back up to where they once were. It only took two or three years of economic recession to put them in the hole; it is expected to take longer than that to recover, but at least that recovery now seems to be underway. read more
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IHS Global Insights economist Paul Bingham said Thursday that the recession is over, even if it doesn't feel like it yet. The recovery is being driven by government stimulus spending, pent-up consumer demand, and improved financial conditions, but unemployment remains high and will probably not peak until later this year, he told a luncheon meeting of the Harbor Association of Industry and Commerce in San Pedro. read more
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With as many as 4,000 City of Los Angeles workers facing layoffs between now and next summer, the Port of Los Angeles is under pressure to employ some of those bodies. Since the port and the city's other two proprietary departments - the Department of Airport and the Department of Water and Power - are self-sustaining and not funded out of the city's general fund - some city officials are anxious to have them ride to the rescue. read more
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The California Chamber of Commerce has launched a campaign to head off a budget plan by the State Democratic Caucus that includes a measure that would require every business using independent contractors to withhold 3 percent of the contractors' payments and send it to the state once a quarter. The withholding would be subtracted from the contractor's tax bill at the end of the year. read more
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Despite a regional push, not one dime of $1.5 billion in federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery stimulus grants awarded last week went to the San Pedro Bay ports. read more
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Even though the 2010 Winter Olympics did not generate any surges in cargo for Port Metro Vancouver, B.C., port officials are still involved in the games. read more
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Port of Tacoma officials report that 90 percent of the drayage trucks serving port terminals are model year 1994 or newer - a four percent gain from 2008 - while the percentage of trucks built in 2007 or later has increased from four percent to six percent. The oldest truck calling at Tacoma terminals now dates to 1970, while the oldest truck calling at the port last year dated to 1966. read more
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Customer discounts designed to encourage trade through the Port of Los Angeles and ease the economic pain for its tenants will end up costing the port nearly $22 million for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 fiscal years. Last week the port board voted to formalize discounts with six container terminal operators - China Shipping, Yang Ming, Yusen, Evergreen, Maersk, and Eagle Marine - and is expected to act separately on a discount for TraPac. The TraPac agreement was postponed after the company asked for more time to crunch the numbers. The program is expected to cost the port more than $5 million annually going forward. read more
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The uneasy truce established between the Port of Los Angeles and Gambol Industries - which has a plan for a shipyard that the company says will bring up to 1,000 family-wage jobs to the port - is about to run out. The Army Corps of Engineers expects to launch its main channel dredging project at the end of this month, and the question is whether the two projects can co-exist without holding up the dredge work. As the deadline draws near, the politics gets uglier. read more
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It's a long way from the waterfront, but the International Longshore and Warehouse Union is engaged in a full-scale labor dispute on behalf of union members in the Mojave Desert east and north of Los Angeles. Battle plans, charges of labor violations and no dates for returning to the table suggest a protracted fight over the union workers, who have been locked out of their jobs since Jan. 13 in a contract dispute with U.S. Borax at its Boron mine. read more
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While many West Coast container ports have experienced double digit dips in trade during the past few years due to sluggish consumer spending, some inland ports that depend on agriculture and construction-related bulk products have proved to be even more vulnerable to market declines. read more
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The happy news for Southern California ports is that after years of delays and inactivity, they are finally ready to start building again. The question, however, is just what should they be building? While the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach have been busy fighting lawsuits, playing environmental hardball with their customers, and developing programs to appease the surrounding communities, East Coast ports have been developing their infrastructure. read more
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The Port of Tacoma invested $190 million on the redevelopment of the Blair Hylebos Peninsula in preparation of a 168-acre terminal for NYK Line before that project was abandoned last year. read more
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Optimistic import cargo forecast last week from the folks at Global Port Tracker. The report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates forecasts that import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports will be 25 percent higher during the first half of 2010 than during the same period last year. The report noted that December import container volumes at the nation's top ten container ports were up 2.6 percent in December over December 2008. It projects that January volumes will be up 17 percent, February up 30 percent, March up 23 percent, April up 27 percent, May up 26 percent and June up 36 percent. Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett rejected the view of some that we are in a double-dip recession, where the current upturn will be followed by another drop. read more
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The National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, the American Trucking Associations, and two other parties have filed suit in federal court, challenging the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard approved by the California Air Resources Board as unconstitutional and counterproductive. read more
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If the city of Los Angeles is casting about for vacancies to reduce the impact of 1,000 anticipated layoffs, it won't get much mileage from the Harbor Department. The Port of Los Angeles has only 35 vacancies - barely enough to make a dent in what could now be a loss of 1,000 city jobs. And, of those 35 positions, six or seven are "port-specific," meaning that there will likely be only 29 slots that could be filled by people laid off by the city. read more
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More than a year after the Port of Los Angeles approved a new marine oil terminal for Pier 400, the port and the project developer, Plains All American Pipeline, have yet to finalize a lease. read more
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Bay area air quality officials say it will be another week before they know how many of the 742 truckers who were allowed to apply for a second round of retrofit grants were able to line-up matching funds to qualify for the grants. read more
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Tensions are mounting along the Columbia River as two groups of pilots serving inland ports are asking for rate hikes and as agents representing the steamship lines that pay the pilots remain adamantly opposed to the increases. read more
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After a long dry stretch, the Port of Los Angeles is back in the building mode. The port is projected to spend almost $1 million a day on construction during the current fiscal year. Chief Harbor Engineer Tony Gioiello estimates that the port will spend from $310 million to $320 million by the time the 2009-10 fiscal year comes to a close on June 30. Major projects include redevelopment of the TraPac terminal, new construction phases of the China Shipping terminal, the Cabrillo Marina project, and completion of the channel-deepening project. Even with spending caps on its capital improvement program due to a down economy, the investment represents the most money the port has spent on infrastructure in a single year in the last decade, Gioiello said. Longer-term plans call for the port to spend $244 million in 2010-11, nearly $225 million in 2011-12 and nearly $174 million in 2012-13 on development. read more
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Officials at the American Association of Port Authorities delivered a blow to the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Oakland last week when port directors from throughout the U.S. voted against a proposal to amend the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act - a move backed by both L.A. and Oakland. read more
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Port of Long Beach Executive Director Dick Steinke painted a dismal economic picture of the past year at the port during his State of the Port address on Friday, but then predicted that things seemed to be turning around and that there is a bright future ahead. The port saw a 22 percent drop in containerized cargo in 2009, a 50 percent drop in vehicles, a 35 percent drop in steel shipments, and a 30 percent drop in lumber, he said. Container trade was down 33 percent from the port's 2007 peak year. read more
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In the wake of last week's award of $8 billion in federal stimulus dollars for high-speed passenger rail, the freight rail industry is evaluating which projects make use of shared tracks and where government will need to work closely with them to address potential impacts on moving goods as well as moving people. read more
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After years of talk and crumbling chunks of concrete raining down below, the Port of Long Beach is expected to release its draft Environmental Impact Report on replacement of the Gerald Desmond Bridge later this week. Hearings will be held in the community later in the month to explain the project and gather comments from the public on the $1.1 billion project. read more
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Even though total intermodal lifts at the Port of Tacoma were down 33 percent during 2009, port officials report that they are making progress in their attempts to restore volumes and grow intermodal traffic through the port. read more
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With the governor of California cheering them on, BNSF officials showcased the company's prototype for a hydrogen fuel cell switch locomotive last week at its City of Commerce rail yard. read more
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The environmentally correct folks in Richmond - the city that recently banned smoking in residents' own apartments - have scheduled a City Council study session for Feb. 23 on "Life after Chevron," according to Councilman Tom Butts. Company execs have been dropping hints that they may pull their marine terminal and refinery operation out of the city, which has an ongoing campaign to tax its biggest taxpayer even more than it already does. Local environmental groups have blocked the company's plan to upgrade and clean up the refinery, resulting in the layoff of more than a thousand workers. City officials are convinced that Chevron is bluffing. The meeting to examine how the city would cope if the company were to split is the Council's version of bluffing back. read more
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The Port of Los Angeles has once again tweaked shippers by adding another three months and an additional $60,000 to its contract with The Gephardt Group, the Washington, D.C. firm that it hired to lobby for changes in the federal trucking law that would allow the port to impose an employee mandate on drayage firms servicing the port. The latest extension - the third since TGG was hired last May - pushes the spending cap on the port's effort past the quarter-million mark to $265,000 and extends the contract through April 26. read more
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The Port of Oakland's clean truck program got off to a shaky start last week as RFID tags designed to show compliance with state air quality regulations sporadically malfunctioned and truckers waited in long lines to have the tags tested. As of Jan. 19, truckers needed to have operating RFID tags to gain access to Oakland's marine terminals. The tags are linked to a state database that shows whether the truckers have successfully replaced their pre-1994 trucks with newer models and have retrofitted 1994-2003 model year trucks with diesel emissions filters. read more
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If all the expected new trucks arrive as anticipated, 85 percent of the drayage fleet calling at the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles will meet the air quality standard set for Jan. 1, 2012 within the next four months. read more
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A Port of Los Angeles project named for the founder of the ILWU will be the port's only major construction project not subject to a project labor agreement.
Last week, L.A. harbor commissioners awarded a $17.7 million contract to lowest responsive bidder, Downey-based Sialic Contractors Corp., doing business as Shawnan, for roadway improvements along a 1.3-mile stretch of Harry Bridges Boulevard in Wilmington. read more
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Nearly 7 percent of the Port of Los Angeles workforce could be gone by June 30 if everyone who has applied for the city's Early Retirement Incentive Program qualifies and takes the deal. read more
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Port of Tacoma Commissioners have boosted Interim Executive Director John Wolfe's salary by 20 percent to compensate him for his added responsibilities during the commission's search for a new executive director. Wolfe will make approximately $16,000 per month until a new executive director is chosen.\ read more
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One-tenth of the pre-1994 model year trucks serving the Port of Seattle were sent to scrap yards during the first two months of a port-sponsored scrapping program that aims to remove all of the dirty trucks from the road by the end of the year. read more
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Port executive directors from around the U.S. will be gathering in San Diego next week for a two-day port summit put together by the Department of Transportation and MARAD. read more
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The Western States Goods Movement Alliance warns that preliminary draft regulations for a California Cap-and-Trade Program aimed at reducing emissions of greenhouse gases would devastate freight movement within the state, drive business away, and actually result in greater greenhouse gas emissions. Many scientists believe that greenhouse gas emissions will cause catastrophic global warming. read more
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A key advisory board says California should sell most or all of its greenhouse-gas emission permits at auction and use that income to subsidize energy costs for its residents. In a report released last week, the Economic and Allocation Advisory Committee (EAAC), recommends that Sacramento lawmakers use a "household friendly" approach to the design and operation of a statewide cap-and-trade system. Unlike federal and European proposals for similar systems that distribute most emissions allowances for free, the EAAC suggests that the state sell most of its allowances via public auction, where industries, including fuel and transportation companies, would purchase government permission to pollute. read more
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After more than two years of watching fewer and fewer ships calling and less and less cargo come across the docks, port folks along the West Coast are thinking that the long decline may finally be coming to an end. Now the questions for ports are how to get back to where they once were, how long will it take, and is it ever going to be the same? read more
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The California Air Resources Board has given some Oakland area truckers another three weeks to line up funding for diesel filters and to access Port of Oakland terminals before new air quality rules kick in. read more
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Officials at Southern California container terminals have no intention of doing away with the PierPass night gate program despite its cost and recent criticism from one shipping executive. Bruce Wargo, president and CEO of the PierPass program, said he met for more than four hours on Friday with managers of every container terminal at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, and every manager agreed that the night gates need to remain open. read more
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Port of Oakland officials have told the Federal Maritime Commission that the terms of their lease with Ports America cannot be compared to their lease with SSA Terminals or other marine terminals because the agreements are fundamentally different in structure. read more
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The folks at the California Air Resources Board are expecting good results from their new regulation that went into effect this month requiring all long-haul truckers to use special low-rolling resistant tires and approved aerodynamic devices on their big rigs ... California Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols is praising a recently released study by the Health Effects Institute that concludes that worldwide increases in population, motor vehicles, and densely-populated urban areas put the health of more people at risk despite gains in pollution control ... A National Labor Relations Board administrative judge handed down a split decision last month in a complaint brought by the Teamsters against Swift Transportation. read more
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If 2009 is remembered as the year that the trade and transportation industry spiraled steeply downward until it finally hit bottom, 2010 may go down in history as the year that wasn't quite as bad as 2009. In other words don't expect the climb back out of the hole to be either quick or easy. read more
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The strike that air quality officials averted last week when they gave Oakland truckers a two-week grace period and $11 million for compliance with new air regulations is already falling short of satisfying the truckers. By noon on Friday, nearly 800 of the truckers had applied for CARB-sponsored grants to use toward diesel filter retrofits. Yet those folks say that the $5,000 grants are merely "down payments" on modifications that can cost as much as $20,000 per truck. read more
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Port of Long Beach officials and Mayor Bob Foster were at the Long Beach Container Terminal last Monday to kick off the first business day of the latest Clean Trucks Program ban. The new CARB standards brought no significant opposition from Long Beach truckers, who had ample time and grant money to get more efficient trucks or retrofits on older models, so that they could continue to service the port. read more
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The same week that the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles were celebrating impressive gains in their programs to clean up the harbor trucking fleet, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club were back in court, targeting the Port of Long Beach for the path it is taking to clean air.
The environmental groups' lawsuit filed Dec. 29 in state court, seeks to invalidate the settlement agreement between the Port of Long Beach and the American Trucking Associations. read more
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While California continues to clean up its trucking fleet, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach are working with Foss Maritime to clean up the San Pedro Harbor's tugboats, one hybrid at a time. read more
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The American Trucking Associations has filed the final response to its request for summary judgment on where the Port of Los Angeles concession agreement is pre-empted by federal law ... It may not make the Teamsters happy, but the International Longshore and Warehouse Association has sided with the Port of Long Beach version of clean trucks ... Look for the oil industry folks to show up in Sacramento on Monday for the Assembly Revenue and Tax Committee hearing on Assembly Bill 656, which would impose a 12.5 percent oil severance tax on all oil and gas pumped from the ground in the state. read more
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California air quality officials and Port of Oakland officials are expected to make an announcement early today (Jan. 4) of actions they have taken to avert a protest and potential shut-down of the Port of Oakland by independent truckers. The deal, which was ironed out in a five-hour, closed door meeting on Saturday evening, may include a two-week grace period to give truckers time to apply for grants to help pay for installation of diesel particulate filters on dirty trucks. The grace period is expected to cover only the 1,312 Oakland area truckers who previously applied for public grants to cover the cost of the filters, but who were denied grants due to a lack of government funding. read more
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The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach expect smooth sailing with a cleaner - and leaner - trucking industry in 2010, as the next phase of the Clean Trucks regulations take effect in earnest this week. The Port of Los Angeles had 7,850 clean trucks registered for drayage as of December 30, close to the 8,000 the port projected would be necessary to keep goods moving. The Port of Long Beach is also confident that enough clean trucks will be on hand to handle cargo. read more
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The Port of Long Beach released and the Port of Los Angeles re-released results of their 2008 air emissions inventories last month showing dramatic decreases in port-related pollution. Each port showed that total emissions from ships, trains, trucks, cargo-handling equipment and harbor craft was down close to 20 percent from the 2005 base year. read more
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Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge David Flynn has put the kibosh on plans by the City of Richmond to collect at least $16 million per year from Chevron through voter-approved Measure T - a local tax on raw materials used in manufacturing. Although the measure could also impact other businesses such as bakeries, which use flour and eggs to manufacture cakes and cookies, it was aimed at Richmond's Chevron refinery operation, which imports crude oil to be processed into gasoline, diesel fuel, and other petroleum products. read more
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Port of Tacoma commissioners have approved a one-time rebate of $17.50 per international intermodal lift for cargo handled during 2009 in return for one-year extensions of existing customer leases. read more
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There was a time that the Port of Los Angeles had big plans for Knoll Hill and none of it involved hiking trails, performance stages, picnic areas, multi-purpose playfields, native gardens, or benches overlooking the harbor. The port planned to buy the residential properties on top of the 14-acre hill as they came on the market, then level the hill, sell the dirt, and expand the West Basin terminals out to where the hill once was. read more
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The Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma are starting the new year with several newly elected commissioners. read more
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The Port of Seattle has finalized acquisition of the Eastside Rail Corridor from the BNSF Railway after nearly two years of negotiation. read more
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APL has launched an $11 million project to provide shore-side electrical power to ships at its terminal in the Port of Oakland ... The Port of Long Beach board has approved a $1.3 million advance payment to help pay for the first phase of the Colorado Lagoon restoration project ... Tim Farrell has stepped down from his position as executive director of the Port of Tacoma. read more
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The California Air Resources Board agreed to revise its statewide truck and bus rule last week after hearing from almost 90 people, including five members of the state assembly, scores of folks in the trucking industry, a few equipment manufacturers, some environmentalists, and others. Their testimony followed a staff presentation that showed diesel emissions from trucking were already significantly down because of the economy - fewer goods to be hauled, less emissions from trucks. read more
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The California Air Resources Board voted somewhat reluctantly last week to redo a key report that was used to justify passage of the truck and bus regulation last year even though most of the board thinks the results will be pretty much the same as they were the first time around. The report was authored by CARB staffer Hien Tran, who later confessed to lying about his academic credentials. The deception was compounded by the fact that CARB senior executives as well as Chairwoman Mary Nichols knew about the Tran misconduct before the rule was approved on Dec. 12, 2008, but did not inform the other board members or the public. read more
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The Port of Long Beach is considering an agreement with the City of Long Beach to fund a shortfall in the city's Colorado Lagoon Restoration project by kicking in $1.3 million toward the job. The contribution, if approved, would be another example of the financially ailing city turning to its financially ailing port to help fund projects and services. read more
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Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster asked port staff at a city council meeting in October for "creative solutions" in solving the city's budget shortfalls, but it appears that the city has creativity to spare in finding ways to get money from the port. read more
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Independent truckers are threatening a strike at seaports throughout California on Tuesday, Dec. 15 to protest the implementation of new air quality regulations. read more
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Officials at the Port of Oakland, Port of Stockton and Port of West Sacramento have applied for a federal grant to develop a project to barge containers between California's San Joaquin Valley and the Bay Area. read more
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Port of Seattle commissioners have authorized a $50,000 contract with Herbert Engineering Corp. to expand its "Green Gateway" analysis of the carbon footprint of cargo movements from Asia to various U.S. markets. read more
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The California State Lands Commission says most of the state's tidelands facilities have not yet begun to develop a comprehensive plan on how they will prepare for a projected rise in sea level due to global warning ... The Port of Los Angeles has signed off on a $6 million program to install and maintain air filtration systems in harbor area schools ... The Port of Seattle canceled its holiday party hours before it was scheduled to begin this year after union laborers threatened to picket the event because the port hired a non-union catering firm. read more
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Almost a year after passage of the California Air Resources Board clean truck regulations, the agency is struggling with the fallout resulting from the misconduct of one of its staff members, the coverup of that conduct, and what it implies for the integrity and culture of the CARB regulatory process. As a result of the mess, Board member John Telles has called for CARB to set aside the truck rule it adopted on Dec. 11, 2008 until the agency can take a closer look at its processes. read more
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Good news at the California Air Resources Board meeting. Diesel particulate pollution has declined dramatically over a 20-year-period in almost every area of the state, including the ports. In fact, the ports are not even the most impacted regions when it comes to particulate matter. The Central Valley holds that dubious honor. A series of three maps - 1987, 1999, and 2007 - presented as part of a presentation to the Board last month, displays PM2.5 exposure across the state in a spectrum of color with heavily polluted areas in dark red and less polluted areas is yellow. read more
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Port of Long Beach Executive Director Dick Steinke and Long Beach City Attorney Robert Shannon briefed the City Council on the process and the legality of the port's Oct. 19 settlement of the American Trucking Associations lawsuit. The ATA lawsuit, filed against both the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports, sought to overturn the concession element of the ports' Clean Truck Program, but did not challenge the cleanup of the trucking fleet that services port terminals. read more
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A group of independent truckers has filed a three-page "friend of the court" brief to join the American Trucking Associations lawsuit against the Port of Los Angeles. The National Port Drivers Association is asking that the court enjoin the Dec. 31, 2009 deadline banning all trucks older than 2004 from port terminals unless they have been retrofitted with anti-pollution devices. read more
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Beginning Dec. 15, marine terminals at the Port of Oakland will require trucks to be equipped with radio frequency identification (RFID) devices to gain entry to their facilities. The trucks also must be registered with eModal's Trucker Check system. Terminals plan to scan the tags to determine whether the trucks are compliant with upcoming regulations of the California Air Resources Board. read more
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Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster has appointed advertising executive and former city planning commissioner Thomas Fields to the Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission. The appointment - if confirmed by the City Council - will end a five-month wait for a new body to fill the board seat left vacant by the retirement of Commissioner Jim Hankla at the end of June. read more
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The EPA has announced more than $16 million in federal stimulus grants for diesel emission reduction projects in Washington State. Grants were awarded to the Puget Sound Clean Air Agenccy, the Washington Department of Ecology, the Port of Tacoma, and Cascade-Sierra Solutions, in Oregon. read more
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Port of Seattle officials said last week that they plan to apply for a 10-year permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge up to 40,000 cubic yards of sediment from the channel at the Terminal 5 Container Terminal operated by Eagle Marine Services. read more
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Port of Seattle commissioners have authorized their staff to spend up to $13.1 million next year on a number of port environmental projects ... The Port of Seattle is establishing a new Workplace Responsibility program to improve the port's accountability to the public ... Two modern streetcars bound for Vancouver B.C. were shipped from Germany through the Port of Tacoma recently on a Wallenius Wilhelmsen vessel. read more
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The Alameda Corridor Transit Authority may need loans from the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles to cover its debt as early as 2011 if port cargo volumes remain down, ACTA CEO John Doherty told harbor commissioners last week. read more
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The U.S. Surface Transportation Board has agreed to allow 10 small- to mid-sized trucking companies serving the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach to pool their equipment when necessary, jointly purchase such things as fuel and maintenance services, and be able to promote one another's services. The decision comes despite opposition from the Teamsters Union and local trucking activist Ernesto Jesus Nevarez. read more
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Fourteen months after Union Pacific Railroad turned down $43 million in state bond matching funds - and the strings attached to those funds - for a project to open up the Donner Pass to double-stack train traffic, the Union Pacific has done the project by itself. The company announced last week that it has completed the $86.8 million project and is moving cargo to and from the Central Valley and the Bay Area over the summit. read more
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The new state standards mandating that ships calling at California use low-sulfur fuel within 24 miles of the coast continue to have some unintended consequences for ship safety, the potential for oil spills, and Naval missile testing. read more
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In Southern California, the unintended consequences generated by the California Air Resources Board low-sulfur fuel rules have involved ships rerouting to new approaches rather than engine-performance problems. Because the California coastline between Point Conception and the Los Angeles area runs northwest to southeast, ships arriving along the great circle route tend to travel along the coast in the designated Santa Barbara Channel, an invisible highway that provides for separation between northwest- and southeast-bound traffic. But it also puts ships within 24 miles of the coast, where they are required to burn the more costly, less efficient low-sulfur fuel. read more
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Capt. Jim Morgan, Construction and Maintenance chief at the Port of Los Angeles, said that back when he was in command of an ARCO Marine tanker, things were a lot easier. A shipmaster in that not-so-distant past was responsible for the safety of his ship, his cargo and his crew, and that's what he focused on. read more
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The Port of Seattle Commission has approved a $282 million operating budget and $414 million capital budget for 2010. The budget, which covers Sea-Tac Airport as well as the port's maritime and real estate interests, includes $41 million for capital projects for the port's seaport division. With major projects such as the new Terminal 91 cruise terminal and Terminal 30 container terminal completed last year, capital projects slated for 2010 are mainly maintenance related, and include new fender systems and lighting at some terminals. read more
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The Port of Tacoma Commission has approved an $87 million operating budget and $84 million capital budget for 2010. read more
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The Port of Longview has been named 2009 Port of the Year by the Washington Public Ports Association ... Trade may be down, but pilots from two organizations - the Columbia River Bar pilots and the Columbia River Pilots - are looking for a raise ... The big Barnes and Noble bookstore in Jack London Square at the Port of Oakland is rumored to be closing early next year, adding to the general decline of business in the waterfront shopping area ... Fitch has assigned an "AA+" rating to $378.1 million in Port of Seattle limited tax general obligation bonds and says the outlook remains stable. read more
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California State Auditor Elaine Howle has found that the Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun has been lacking in oversight, record-keeping, and compliance with state law. The audit was required under Senate Bill 1627, which was passed following the allision of the Cosco Busan with the Bay Bridge in November 2007, resulting in a 53,000-gallon spill of bunker fuel into the water. Capt. John Cota, the pilot onboard the containership at the time, was later found to be criminally liable and was sentenced to prison. read more
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Long Beach City Attorney Robert Shannon has rejected an appeal to the City Council that sought to overturn the settlement agreement between the Port of Long Beach and the American Trucking Associations. The appeal, filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council, contended that the decision to settle the lawsuit brought by the ATA against the port's clean truck concession plan should have required an environmental analysis. read more
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Some 1,000 Oakland area truck drivers may be out of work on Jan. 1 because they cannot afford to retrofit their older rigs with costly diesel particulate filters. Many of those drivers discovered during the past two weeks that they will not receive grants from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to pay for the retrofits that will be required for access into Port of Oakland marine terminals beginning in 2010. read more
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The Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission voted 3-1 last week to amend the port's Clean Trucks Plan to reflect the settlement of the lawsuit filed against it by the American Trucking Associations. Environmentalists and others at an earlier meeting claimed that that the port would no longer be able to enforce the Clean Trucks program, since the settlement removed the port's ability to ban licensed motor carriers caught sending dirty trucks to the port. read more
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More than 60 community activists, truckers, environmentalists, and students protested the Port of Long Beach Clean Trucks settlement of a lawsuit with the American Trucking Associations in a rally last week on the port administration building's front lawn. When the rally ended, most of the protestors went upstairs to attend the harbor commission meeting scheduled for that afternoon. read more
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After weeks of the Port of Los Angeles being bashed as a lackey for the Teamsters Union, port Executive Director Geraldine Knatz has struck back with a hard-hitting statement defending her port's decision to keep fighting the American Trucking Associations in court. The statement - about 750 words long - talks about how concession agreements will give the port more control over trucking, make trucking companies more accountable, and provide for making sure that the gains in cleaner air will continue to be expanded upon in the future. read more
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No action yet, but expect the Port of Los Angeles to move forward with the TraPac settlement agreement as planned before concerns were raised over former board President S. David Freeman signing the deal more than a year after it was struck and two months after he left the commission. read more
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The City of Long Beach has negotiated a new operating agreement with Tidelands Oil that will effectively cap revenue to the Port of Long Beach and send increased revenue from the West Wilmington oil field directly to the city's Tidelands fund. It is far from a done deal, however. The agreement will still have to get the blessing of the State Lands Commission, which may have some problems with the plan, Mayor Bob Foster told the council. read more
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The Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission convened last week in memory of Doug Ring, husband of board President Cindy Miscikowski and prominent developer, civic leader and philanthropist ... Now that the final phase of the Port of Los Angeles channel-deepening project can proceed, officials have a better handle on the total cost: $298 million - more than 47 percent than had been originally estimated ... West Basin Container Terminal at the Port of Los Angeles will get more time to convert two diesel-powered rubber tire gantry cranes to run on electricity. read more
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City Attorney Bob Shannon will brief the Long Beach City Council Tuesday on the settlement reached last month between the Port of Long Beach and the American Trucking Associations, which sued both the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles in federal court over the two ports' truck concessions plans. read more
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With tensions running high over the lawsuit settlement agreement between the Port of Long Beach and the American Trucking Associations, the exchanges between the parties are going beyond just frank and candid to downright accusatory. The first volley last week was fired by Long Beach Harbor Commission President Nick Sramek, who wrote a strongly worded letter to Natural Resources Defense Council Attorney David Pettit, taking offense at Pettit's charge that by settling the ATA lawsuit, the port had failed in its duty "to enforce environmental, security and safety measures in the harbor area" and that the settlement agreement was an "unlawful and unwise back room deal." read more
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Total Transportation Systems Inc. - one of the companies that led the charge to replace its fleet with clean trucks - is now the target of a class-action suit brought in Los Angeles Superior Court by some unhappy drivers who allege that the company took away their employee status, but then kept treating them like employees. read more
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The three organizations suing the California Department of Transportation in state court over the proposed State Route 47 Expressway have taken their battle to federal court. The Natural Resources Defense Council, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, and Coalition for a Safe Environment are challenging the adequacy of the project's Environmental Impact Statement. The plaintiffs are asking the court to order the defendants to prepare a new document and to bar any federal funds for the project until a new EIS is done. read more
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SSA Container President Ed DeNike is confident that his company's proposed all-electric, container-handling bridge can be built at the Port of Long Beach within two years, but one key requirement will be a declaration from the port that building the bridge will not have a negative impact on the environment. The negative declaration would allow SSA Containers to save time and money by not having to prepare an Environmental Impact Report for the project or go through the lengthy procedure to get it approved. read more
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Port of Tacoma analysts predict that container volumes are likely to get worse before they start getting better, and it may be 2014 before the port's container counts return to 2000 levels. Even though container counts are down 15 percent year-to-date, the counts are expected to be down 20 percent by the end of the year due to the recent move of Maersk Line to the Port of Seattle and reduced volumes moved by other carriers during the last quarter of the year. read more
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The finalization of the Port of Seattle budget may prove to be more difficult than anticipated, as port commissioners squabble over how much money to request from King County homeowners. read more
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More than 100 truckers, unhappy over the Port of Los Angeles plan to ban owner-operators - jammed traffic Friday with a convoy from the harbor area to City Hall in downtown Los Angeles and back ... About 75 local, state and federal cops from 13 agencies gave out 200 traffic safety citations at the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles last week ... Officials from the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach, Port of Oakland, Port of Seattle, Port of Tacoma and Port of Portland were at the World Shipping Summit in Qingdao, China last week along with executives from the Union Pacific and the BNSF railroads to tout the advantages of West Coast ports for moving Asian goods. read more
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Some West Coast port officials say it is too early to speculate whether the purchase of the BNSF Railway Co. by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is good for the ports or not. Others are cautiously optimistic.
One consultant, who studies seaports across the nation, labeled the purchase as "a great move for Buffett," but a "neutral move for the West Coast ports." read more
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If their questions and comments are any indication, a three-member panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is unlikely to grant the American Trucking Associations any more injunctive relief from the Port of Los Angeles concession program than it already has. The judges' discussion indicated that the issues raised by the ATA pertain to the larger matters that will be resolved in district court. They also urged the parties to resolve the matter outside the courtroom. "This is not the kind of lawsuit where one wins and one loses and you go your separate ways. You're bound together. read more
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There were no surprises in last week's commission elections for the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma. Front-runners in the primary races continued their leads in the general elections for two seats in Seattle and three in Tacoma. read more
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Overall emissions at the Port of Los Angeles have declined nearly 27 percent in the last three years. That progress is reflected in the port's 2008 Air Emissions Inventory, which was released last week. The 210-page report contains emissions estimates based on detailed information about sources - ships, harbor craft, locomotives, trucks and cargo handling equipment - as well as age, engine and fuel type, and operational use of the equipment. read more
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Despite a significant drop in revenue this year, the Port of Seattle expects to end the year in the black. During the first nine months of the fiscal year beginning January 1, the port's operating revenues of $358 million were $8.8 million below budget. Yet the port's operating expenses of $178 million were $30 million, or 15 percent, below budget. read more
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The decision to cut L.A. city workers to 76.5 hours per 80-hour pay period has Port of Los Angeles officials scrambling to comply, even though the port has the money to pay its employees and the savings won't help the city dig itself out of a $100 million hole because the port salary savings can not be transferred to the city. read more
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The issue came up at last week's board meeting, when commissioners were asked to approve a $4 million transfer to the community mitigation trust fund established under the settlement. The settlement ended a challenge to the project so the redevelopment of the TraPac terminal could proceed. read more
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Port of Oakland commissioners have approved a contract with Moffatt and Nichol engineering to design the first phase of a two-phased shore power program for the port. read more
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Community and environmental activists protested the Port of Long Beach settlement with the American Trucking Associations over the Clean Trucks Program at last week's board meeting, and the settlement was nearly stopped in its tracks by Commissioner Mario Cordero. read more
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The Port of Seattle has new partners in the preservation of the Eastside Rail Corridor. King County, Sound Transit, the City of Redmond, Puget Sound Energy and the Cascade Water Alliance are partnering with the port in its plans to put the corridor into public ownership. read more
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The Port of Richmond has broken ground on a $40 million rail infrastructure project that will allow the port to handle more than 145,000 imported Hondas a year ... Now that the Port of Los Angeles waterfront EIR has been approved, the port is circulating draft guidelines on how the port plans to carry out the $1.3 billion redevelopment of the San Pedro and Wilmington waterfronts ... The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has significantly downgraded the risk of flooding along the Green River in King County. read more
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Western States Petroleum Association President Joe Sparano was traveling last week with a message about low-carbon fuels, the continuing need for fossil fuels, and the policy decisions that keep America dependent on foreign oil. read more
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The Port of Tacoma's planned NYK terminal is not the only construction project on the Blair Peninsula to be impacted by the downturn in the economy. A private terminal to be built by SSA Marine has been put on hold for a couple of years."There is no sense in spending money to build a terminal at this time," says Ed DeNike, president of SSA Containers. DeNike says even though SSA is continuing to go through the permitting process for the 175-acre terminal, it is unlikely that construction will not begin until potential customers are willing to make commitments to use the facility. read more
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Concrete is crumbling off at the corners, and the main span sometimes bounces like a steel trampoline as big rigs roll through with the nation's cargo, but the Port of Long Beach says that the Gerald Desmond Bridge is perfectly safe and will remain so for another two decades - just long enough to build a new one. read more
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This week Puget Sound area voters will elect several new port commissioners for both the Port of Tacoma and Port of Seattle. Those new officials will face daunting challenges, including declining port revenues, increased competition from ports in Canada and the U.S. East Coast, and massive environmental costs associated with new technology and cleanup of former industrial lands. read more
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Vancouver-based Polaris Minerals Corporation moved closer to bringing its operation - and its gravel - to southern California by securing an option to lease an existing, privately owned 8.3-acre aggregate importing terminal at the Port of Long Beach in early October. The company declined to identify the specific property. read more
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The Port of Seattle is not going to require ships that call at its two cruise terminals to pump their biomass to onshore wastewater treatment plants. Instead, they will allow the ships to continue to discharge the treated waste into international waters 12 miles offshore. read more
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Port of Seattle commissioners were told last week that the port has spent more than $102 million on environmental cleanup costs since 1991. Those projects have included sediment cleanups within Elliott Bay and on port uplands. read more
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An eight-year, $74 million study of the Portland Harbor Superfund site has found that pollution levels in nine-mile-long industrialized area of the Willamette River in Portland has high levels of pesticides, PCBs, dioxins, furans, and other substances that pose a risk to both fish and humans ... Port of Seattle officials are celebrating a record cruise season during 2009 ... The Coast Guard was still overseeing the final clean-up operations this weekend after a spill of more than 400 gallons of fuel into San Francisco Bay at Anchorage 9 near the Oakland Airport ... Hopes have faded for finding any survivors of a Thursday evening mid-air collision between a Coast Guard C-130 cargo plane and a Marine Corps Cobra helicopter after an almost two-day search of the area off the Southern California coast yielded debris, but no sign of the six men and one woman onboard the Coast Guard plane or the two Marines aboard the helicopter. read more
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The settlement between the Port of Long Beach and the American Trucking Associations over the port's Clean Trucks Program was nearly derailed at the Harbor Commission meeting today - by one of the commissioners. read more
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The Port of Long Beach and the American Trucking Associations settled their differences over the port's Clean Truck Program last week, leaving the Port of Los Angeles to fight its own battle against the lawsuit brought by the ATA and setting off a secondary battle of blog postings and press releases. Environmental groups didn't like the settlement, shippers and logistics folks thought it was great. The settlement - approved by federal Judge Christina Snyder the day after it was reached - was not a huge surprise. read more
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Former Long Beach Harbor Commission President James Hankla told a luncheon crowd Thursday that the environmental community made a devil's bargain with the Teamster Union and "come hell or high water, they are going to defend that position." Hankla is a former Long Beach City Manager who later served as chief executive for the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority. When he retired from ACTA, he was appointed to a six-year term on the harbor commission. His comments came during a "fireside chat" at the METRANS National Urban Freight Conference. read more
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The California Air Resources Board's recent release of Prop. 1B grant money may result in the replacement of more than a thousand old, dirty trucks throughout the state within the next few months. read more
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Within the next 90 days, Judge Ronald Bauer of Orange County Superior Court is due to rule on whether the China Shipping Final Environmental Impact Report stands or must be set aside. The case was brought by the city of Riverside, which has challenged the document on procedural as well as substantive grounds. Riverside wants the project blocked pending a new EIR or a settlement. Riverside contends that the final EIR is inadequate because it did not properly analyze and mitigate the traffic and safety impacts of additional trains tied to the full build-out of the terminal. read more
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Officials at the Port of Seattle are bracing for a one-in-three chance of severe flooding in the Green River Valley this winter, which could disrupt Seattle's seaport and airport operations. read more
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Environmental chiefs from the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach said last week that they expect to release a draft Environmental Impact Report by next April on the long-delayed project to overhaul the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility railyard about five miles north of the two ports. The ICTF, operated by Union Pacific, is owned by twin ports and is overseen by a joint powers board. read more
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As the trade and transportation industry and community battle over an overhaul of the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility railyard, the idea that the facility will be handling a lot more cargo anytime soon seems almost silly. Gross revenues for the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility in 2007-08 were down 10 percent compared with the previous year and operating revenues were down six percent according to newly released audit reports. read more
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Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Geraldine Knatz spent her State of the Port address before a San Pedro Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting last Wednesday focusing on the port's business relationship with the local community. She drew applause from the crowd as she declared they had entered an "era of one" in which the port and the community would work together. read more
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Folks at the Port of Los Angeles Tuesday evening will be unveiling their conceptual design plan for the port-owned Knoll Hill ... California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill to make it easier to track cargo theft by classifying it as a separate crime - Grand Theft: Cargo ... State Senate Bill 32, which will make it easier for California warehouse operators to sell their rooftop solar power back to the grid, has cleared the Governor's desk ... The latest cargo stats released by the Port of Portland show that the port continues to struggle through the current economic and trade meltdown. read more
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Port of Tacoma Executive Director Tim Farrell announced last night that he will leave the port at the end of the year, ending two weeks of speculation that he was about to step down. Tacoma's Port Commission accepted his "transition" in a brief open meeting that followed a four-hour closed-door executive session. read more
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The Port of Long Beach and the American Trucking Associations have reached a settlement in the case brought by the ATA against the port's Clean Truck Concession plan. The Harbor Commission voted this afternoon to approve the settlement after meeting behind closed doors on the matter. A settlement between the Port of Long Beach and the ATA means that the trucking association's case now will be targeted solely at the Port of Los Angeles, which has been pushing for a requirement that would force port trucking companies to transition from owner-operators to employee-drivers. read more
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The only sunny news in the September container stats released by West Coast ports last week was at the Port of Seattle, where both imports and exports were up double digits from where they were in September 2008. Seattle recorded a 10.9 percent jump in imports and a whopping 22.6 percent jump in exports for a 4.8 percent increase in total containers handled at the port - including empties and domestic cargo. The change reflected some new business Seattle has gotten in the few months at the expense of some other West Coast ports, but it is the first time in many months that any of those ports - with one exception - marked an increase in anything. read more
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Commissioners at the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma were told last week that U.S. West Coast ports are losing their market share and would continue doing so in the future unless some drastic changes are made in the way the ports operate and market themselves. The presentation, which was referred to by port officials as both "somber" and "depressing," was prepared by John Martin of Martin Associates, who has completed more than 500 economic, planning and marketing studies for U.S. seaports over the past 25 years. read more
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A group of industry stakeholders and port officials met with Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal Wednesday to discuss how to prepare the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles for a post-recession business increase. Their answer was simple: money. Both ports are trying to nail down funds to pay for infrastructure that will ease traffic congestion and increase the efficiency of goods movement in the area. The Port of Los Angeles is currently spending almost $1 million per day on capital projects, but more work needs to be done, said executive director Dr. Geraldine Knatz. read more
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Environmental regulators and representatives from the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma gathered over the weekend to open a new Green Truck Center just south of downtown Seattle. The outreach center is being operated by Cascade Sierra Solutions (CSS) - an Oregon-based non-profit group that specializes in providing clean trucks and technology to independent truckers and trucking companies. read more
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The Port of Long Beach has begun work on local and remote Disaster Recovery sites that will back up vital information and infrastructure in the case of an emergency. The port has approved a contract at the committee level with Surrex Project Solutions to create two backup computer systems that will store information such as contract details, as well as infrastructure and operations data vital to the port. read more
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Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commissioners voted to go forward on two major port community projects but held off putting more money into a fund created to help settle a dispute over plans to redevelop the TraPac marine terminal. read more
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A contract increase generated huge public interest last week when the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission voted to add $55,000 to its contract with The Gephardt Group. read more
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At the request of Councilwoman Hahn, who is exploring a run for Lieutenant Governor, the item has been pulled - at least for the time being. read more
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The Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach are teaming up with the Southern California Air Quality Management District to pay for two new liquefied natural gas fueling stations that will be located on facilities run by Cal Cartage ... ILWU longshoreman Michael Marquez was arrested at his home in San Pedro last week in connection with an accident at the Port of Long Beach last January that killed trucker Pablo Antonio Garcia ... The last phase of a $383 million channel deepening project at the Port of Los Angeles will proceed now that the Harbor Commission has approved the development permit. read more
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SSA Containers President Ed DeNike says his company hopes to install a new electric-powered container-handling electric bridge in the next two years at its terminal on Pier J in the Port of Long Beach. He cautions that it's not a done deal yet, but the new ZPMC-manufactured automated system could triple throughput. read more
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Much of the talk at the Cargo Business News Port Productivity Conference in Long Beach last week was about the disenchantment of shippers and cargo owners with the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. That was also one of the common themes at last week's Footwear Traffic Distribution and Customs Conference held in Huntington Beach a few miles down the coast. Despite attempts by the two ports to patch up their battered reputations, perceptions count and the perception of the Southern California ports is not good, speakers and others at the conferences said. Shippers are not only worried about what barriers to business the ports have put up so far, but what they may put up in the future. read more
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The Port of Oakland took action last week that was one step shy of a complete ban on trucks with pre-1994 engines. The ban will take place on Jan. 1 and also will prohibit trucks with 1994-2003 engine models if they have not been retrofitted with diesel particulate filters. read more
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The cost of defending the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan - and legal work related to its development - is heading toward the $10 million mark. That includes the current $7.5 million budget for the legal services of Kaye Scholer LLP and its subcontractor, Troutman Sanders LLP, plus nearly $2.2 million that the Port of Long Beach has paid Troutman Sanders under a separate contract. The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach are sharing the cost of the Kaye Scholer legal services to defend the Clean Air Action Plan, which since its beginning has launched tidal wave of litigation. read more
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The debate over the Port of Long Beach's profit transfer to the city's Tidelands Operating Fund continued Tuesday as the City Council heard testimony from the port and the public at a special study session. The port annually transfers ten percent of its net profits to the Tidelands fund, totaling just over $16 million this year. read more
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Contra Costa Superior Court Judge David Flinn heard about an hour of argument Friday over the legality of a City of Richmond municipal fee that is being challenged by Chevron. read more
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A California Senate Bill that has passed the legislature and is sitting on the governor's desk would make it a more financially attractive for warehousing and distribution facilities to go solar. The bill makes it possible for businesses and other organizations that have installed rooftop solar panels to sell their excess energy back to the power grid. read more
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Cruise terminals at the Port of Seattle are making money despite the downturn in the economy. At a budget briefing last week, port commissioners were told that the cruise business generated $9.2 million for the port last year, as compared to $7.4 million in 2007. By next year, Seattle's cruise business is expected to generate some $10.5 million. read more
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Companies that haul refrigerated products may soon have new cheap and clean technology to power their reefer units. The Clean Energy Storage and Recovery system (CESAR) uses heat from a truck's tailpipe to generate power to run the refrigeration unit. read more
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California Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal will be at the Port of Long Beach on Wednesday to gather insight on how to prepare for the time when cargo volumes at the ports begin to recover and increase ... Harbor Truckers for a Sustainable Future have not released the results of its turn-time survey of container terminals at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach, but the group does plan to sit down with individual terminal operators - starting with the slowest - to find ways to be more efficient. read more
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Port of Tacoma executive director Tim Farrell met with his port commissioners today to discuss "a transition in leadership." Farrell said he requested the discussion, which began today "in the context of a performance evaluation." In his two-paragraph e-mail to employees, Farrell indicated that he and the commissioners will meet again on Oct. 19. He gave no further details, but urged employees "to continue to focus on your work." read more
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When port trucking folks gathered in Long Beach on Thursday to get the latest scoop on intermodal issues, there was plenty to talk about. The California Air Resources Board deadline for signing up in the agency's Drayage Truck Registry kicked in on Wednesday, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration plans to start enforcing its chassis roadability rules on Dec. 17, the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles are planning to change how they collect clean truck fees on containers hauled by dirty trucks, and various legal challenges are ongoing. read more
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The Port of Los Angeles took a look last week at some of the figures behind the allegedly high cost of doing business at the port compared to other gateways. With shippers complaining about the menu of fees they face at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach, and the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma openly marketing their "fee-free" advantages, the Southern California gateways are concerned about possible diversion of discretionary cargo. L.A. Port Marketing Director Mike DiBernardo used aggregate numbers to brief the port board on how market forces influence routing choices for cargo owners. read more
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A potential $1.2 billion price tag for the redevelopment of the Blair Peninsula in the Port of Tacoma - combined with plummeting cargo volumes - prompted port and shipping officials to pull the plug on plans to build a dedicated terminal for NYK, port officials say. read more
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California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson were at the Port of Long Beach Thursday to announce $26.5 million in stimulus grants will be awarded to trade and transportation agencies to fund emission-reduction projects in Southern California. "When I came into office it was accepted that the ports were dirty, and we couldn't have a green economy and a green environment," Schwarzenegger told the press. "We don't have to accept that as the status quo." read more
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The Port of Los Angeles has doubled its reward to shipping lines that double the distance at which they slow their ships while entering and leaving the port. Last week the Harbor Commission raised the dockage fee discount offered to ocean carriers whose ships slow to12 knots or less within 40 nautical miles of Point Fermin. The change means that operators with a 90 percent compliance rate for an entire calendar year will be eligible for a 30 percent discount on first-day dockage fees for all their ship calls during the year. read more
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The long-range plan to redevelop the west side of the main channel at the Port of Los Angeles from the Vincent Thomas Bridge south took a big step forward last week when the Harbor Commission voted to approve the final environmental impact report for the $1.2 billion project. Approval of the EIR comes after six years of formal planning and decades of local community and business pressure to connect the San Pedro waterfront with the downtown area. read more
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A much-awaited draft report on the proposed renovation of eroding jetties at the mouth of the Columbia River should be ready for environmental assessment and public review in November, say representatives in the Portland office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. read more
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A contingent of 37 Port of Seattle police officers on Wednesday evicted more than 40 homeless people who have been camping illegally since late July on port property. The squatters had set up an encampment - dubbed Nickelsville after Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels - along the Lower Duwamish Waterway. The Terminal 107 site is normally used as a public park. read more
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The Port of Tacoma will soon provide security services for the APM Terminal ... The Coast Guard has extended its terrorist outreach program at the Port Angeles Air Group where helicopter crew members recently completed their armed helicopter training. read more
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Port of Tacoma Commissioners today approved a series of agreements that will allow NYK Line to call at the APM Terminal in Tacoma beginning in July 2012 as opposed to building a 168-acre dedicated terminal on the Blair Peninsula within the port. read more
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When California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced a year ago that he was going to crack down on port drayage companies that were misclassifying employees as independent contractors, one of the first companies to be sued was Long Beach-based Pac Anchor Transportation. Last week, Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Allen White told the Attorney General's Office that it didn't have a case when she dismissed the suit and asked the defendants to write up a formal order for her to sign. read more
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The Long Beach City Council's attempt to review the transfer of profits from the Port of Long Beach to the Tidelands Operating fund received strong pushback from the transportation industry at a city council meeting Tuesday. The issue was held over for a study session instead of scheduling it for a City Charter Amendment Committee meeting, as recommended in the item placed on the agenda by councilwomen Tonia Reyes Uranga, Rae Gabelich and Gerrie Schipske. The city council has until Jan. 13 to put a city charter amendment on the ballot. Industry representatives that spoke at the meeting seemed encouraged by the city council's decision to hold a study session rather than the committee meeting, but there is clearly a great deal of tension over the issue. read more
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The Port of Long Beach, which is still seeking funding for infrastructure projects, hopes that a new Surface Transportation Authorization bill will bring relief. But getting lawmakers' attention is an uphill battle. Infrastructure projects are not receiving as much federal attention as the port would like due to the current battle over healthcare and other hot topics, said Harbor Commissioner Mario Cordero at a study session last week. read more
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The days of the Gerald Desmond Bridge are numbered - but that number is much higher than the Port of Long Beach would like. Replacing the 41-year-old bridge continues to top the port's list of construction projects, but a lack of funding for the so-called "bridge to everywhere" continues to stymie efforts to get the seven-year, $1.1 billion project under way. The port has currently secured roughly half of the funds needed to complete the project and continues to seek funding at the regional and federal level to make up the difference. read more
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Industry folks were told Wednesday that it is time to look for opportunities in the landslide of environmental and climate change regulation that is coming down on business in both California and the nation. Panelists at a Harbor Association of Industry and Commerce workshop in San Pedro said there would be disruptions to industry, but there was no turning back the coming crush of regulation, especially in California. read more
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The California Air Resources Board will move ahead with an accelerated plan that would reduce railyard emissions in the state by 85 percent or more by 2020. The current railyard program being pursued by the state under an agreement with the Union Pacific and BNSF railroads would reduce emissions during that period by about 65 percent. read more
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At a time when virtually no transportation project goes unchallenged, three organizations are suing Caltrans over the proposed State Route 47 truck expressway project. read more
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A program that BP calls "Virtual Arrival" is among the latest environmental innovations the global energy giant is exploring ... The Port of Long Beach has extended the period to receive written comments for its proposed Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility until Oct. 9 ... PG&E Chairman Peter Darbee has sent a letter to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce canceling the utility's membership in protest over the chamber's opposition to climate change legislation. read more
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A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge has ruled against California Attorney General Jerry Brown in a suit he brought against a Long Beach trucking company, accusing the company of improperly classifying truck drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. read more
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The Long Beach City Council tonight decided to hold a study session to discuss possible changes to the way the Port of Long Beach transfers port profits to the city's Tidelands Operating fund. The issue was held over to the planned Oct. 6 study session instead of scheduling it for a City Charter Amendment Committee meeting, as recommended in an item placed on the agenda by City councilwomen Tonia Reyes Uranga, Rae Gabelich and Gerrie Schipske. The City Charter currently allows the port to transfer 10 percent of its net profits from the previous year to the city Tidelands fund - which under state law can only be spent on coastal improvements and operations. Although the Harbor Commission has the final say on whether the money is transferred on not, the board always hands over the money. read more
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After months of doom and gloom, there may be a small glimmer of light breaking through the economic darkness that has enveloped the international trade and transportation community for almost a year. August container numbers released last week by the five major West Coast container ports showed several signs that things may be ready to stop getting worse. read more
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While some other West Coast ports struggle with double-digit declines in containerized trade, the Port of Prince Rupert, B.C. is enjoying double-digit growth. In July, the port moved 24,822 TEUs - a 26.7 percent jump over last July. In August, containerized trade grew by 39.2 percent to 29,306 TEUs. The July and August numbers are particularly significant because they reflect the first apples-to-apples comparison of trade in Prince Rupert since the crash of the stock market a year ago. read more
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Folks at last week's "Delivering the Goods" seminar had a lot to say about the two San Pedro Bay ports and the impact they have on the community, the economy and the environment. The Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles may be a major economic engine for both the local region and the state, but many people who live in the harbor area are tired of the pollution, the congestion, and the constant construction projects that accompany the ports' operations. read more
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California Air Resources Board chairwoman Mary Nichols said Friday that her organization will soon start focusing on additional ways to reduce train emissions. Her comments came during the "Delivering the Goods" seminar sponsored by Cal State Long Beach's Center for Commercial Deployment of Transportation Technologies. read more
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Two years ago the Port of Stockton was contemplating six biofuel projects for the largely built-out eastern portion of its 2,000-acre port complex. Today, only one project, by American BioDiesel, dba Community Fuels, is up and running, but at reduced capacity. Four other biofuel companies have backed out of any Stockton plans, and Pacific Ethanol declared bankruptcy and shut down its facility last February. read more
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As expected, Port of Long Beach harbor commissioners voted last week to support changes to the container-claiming process that will eliminate the collection-then-rebate of fees for containers moved by clean trucks at the port. read more
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The Port of Los Angeles has invested more than $200 million in security since the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center and has the personnel, the equipment and the cutting-edge technology to show for it. read more
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After several years and more than $20 million spent on environmental cleanup, the level of bacteria in the water at Cabrillo Beach in the Port of Los Angeles remains high, and the port must take action to meet a March 2010 deadline for bringing the problem under control. The port is working with regional, state and federal agencies to address the problem. read more
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Ongoing improvements to the Port of Los Angeles cruise terminal will cost millions, but the 64,000-question at last week's harbor commission meeting was just what colors should be used to spruce up the terminal. read more
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Port of Tacoma commissioners have approved a 10-year lease of a warehouse to the North West Company of Winnipeg, Manitoba ... The battle over how the Port of Los Angeles should redevelop the San Pedro waterfront rages on despite an upcoming Sept. 29 certification vote on the project's final environmental impact report. read more
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California truckers and other logistics folks are up in arms over a proposed tax-reform measure that would put an escalating state pollution tax on gasoline and diesel fuel. Critics say the "carbon tax" being proposed as part of a state tax reform effort would drive both business and freight away from California and bankrupt much of the goods-movement industry. read more
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Falling port cargo volumes through the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles are expected to result in the two ports having to help pay off the $1.9 billion in revenue bonds issued to build the 20-mile Alameda Corridor freight train tollway. The ports would be reimbursed for their help, but that wouldn't be until after the bonds are paid off sometime after 2020. Although cargo volumes are expected to start increasing again next year, that growth is not expected to be as robust as it has been in the past or as it was projected to be when the Alameda Corridor was built. read more
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The Port of Long Beach - with almost $817 million in outstanding debt - is not currently planning to increase that debt, Chief Financial Officer Sam Joumblat told harbor commissioners last week. read more
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Both the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles are planning to eliminate a burdensome and expensive step for cargo owners who use a clean truck to pick up their containers, but must still claim the box and pay the $70 per 40-foot-container Clean Truck Fee. Although the money is later rebated to them - only containers carried by trucks that don't meet 2007 emissions standards are subject to the fee - the paperwork involved adds from $15 to $30 per container in administrative costs. read more
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At a recent harbor commission meeting, a parade of speakers pressed the board to do more to protect the port and the people who live around it. Their coordinated comments came days before the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and suggested more public pressure and activism are on the way. read more
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Port of Oakland Executive Director Omar Benjamin doesn't want to let a sleeping dog lie. Even though the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners has not discussed its controversial goods movement resolution since its last meeting on July 21, Benjamin is determined to set the record straight. read more
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The Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles are preparing to field test new fingerprint scanners as a part of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program (TWIC). The ports will be the only ones on the West Coast and two of only five nationwide to try out the new equipment. read more
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California Air Resources Board rules requiring ships calling at state ports to burn low-sulfur fuel within 24 nautical miles of the coast are pushing some coastal voyages farther out, making things tough for the Navy, which say more ships are now passing through its missile range at Point Mugu... The Coast Guard is investigating the death of a 49-year-old Chinese crewman, who plunged overboard Thursday from the Evergreen container ship Ever Elite near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge... The Orange County Register reports that a truck carrying scrap metal from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating plant near San Clemente was turned away at the Port of Long Beach after radiation detectors found the load was radioactive. read more
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Officials from the six major West Coast ports sat down with senior railroad executives from the Union Pacific and BNSF on Tuesday to discuss how they can work together to promote trade through West Coast ports. read more
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The Port of Long Beach on Wednesday held the first of two public hearing to discuss a proposed expansion of the Pier B railyard. Although turnout was light, some folks raised concerns over the businesses and other sites that would have to be relocated to accommodate the expansion, including a multi-service homeless center on 12th Street. The improved railyard would include a near-dock intermodal facility for assembling and breaking down double-stack trains, instead of using on-dock railyards for that purpose. read more
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Despite a pending legal challenge from the City of Riverside, Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commissioners have approved a $47.6 million contract for building the final phases of the China Shipping terminal. Although the container terminal has been open for business since 2004, construction was never actually completed. read more
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In addition to a legal challenge to the Port of Los Angeles China Shipping project, the City of Riverside is challenging the Port of Long Beach Middle Harbor redevelopment project and has also been monitoring other projects aimed at expanding capacity through the South Bay Ports. read more
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Port of Oakland officials say it will be next year before they know how severely they may be impacted by Toyota's recent decision to close New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) plant in Fremont. read more
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Port of Oakland folks are making progress on their goal to retrofit 1,500 trucks with diesel particulate filters by the end of this year. As of last week, the devices had been installed on 55 trucks. The port has ordered another 194 filters for trucks that had been approved for the program. read more
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Chevron - under fire from both environmental groups and the community over the amount of taxes and fees being charged on its Richmond refinery operation and its efforts to modernize its refinery operation - scored some points last week in rulings by a judge and the Contra Costa Assessment Appeals Board. read more
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The Port of San Diego will file a response in the next couple of weeks to a lawsuit brought by an activist group seeking to halt the already-in-progress construction of a cruise ship terminal. read more
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As the nation turns green in its quest for electrical power, several West Coast seaports are benefitting from increased imports of wind-generating equipment. read more
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The Port of Tacoma will hold its official groundbreaking ceremony for the Lincoln Avenue grade separation on Friday, Sept. 18 ... The 570-foot freighter Tasman Revolution sheared off a big chunk of a levee in the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta flood region after it ran aground on its way from the Port of Stockton ... The Port of Los Angeles plans to release the Final Environmental Impact Report for the San Pedro Waterfront Project in the next weeks. read more
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The Port of Los Angeles may have kept a quiet profile so far in the war of words over attempts to change the law in order to give ports more authority over trucking, but that's expected to change in the coming days. Look for the port to launch its own education campaign to explain why the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act - dubbed F4A - needs to be amended in order to make the ports secure and environmentally clean. read more
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Two high-profile environmental groups - the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club - have sent a letter to Congressman James Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, clarifying questions Oberstar raised during a July 29 meeting with "coalition partners." Oberstar had asked whether the port's truck environmental goals could be met without changing the law. The two environmental groups said having trucking concessions is essential to the long-term success of the plan. read more
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Port of Seattle officials are planning a November launch of a truck buy-back and scrapping plan designed to take old, polluting trucks out of service. read more
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Port of Seattle commissioners have approved the first in a series of lease amendments designed to give port customers incentives for increasing shipments through the port in return for the terminals' enforcement of Seattle's Clean Truck Plan. read more
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An economic study put together by a team of professors and students at Cal State University, Long Beach found that imports coming through the Port of Long Beach may have a much larger economic impact than previously thought. The study, presented to harbor commissioners last week by economics Professor Lisa Grobar, showed that raw and unfinished materials being brought in through the port to be used in manufacturing supports thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue nationally. read more
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A Superior Court judge has turned down San Francisco Bar Pilot Michael Simenstad's request for a restraining order to prevent the presentation of results of an investigation of excessive speed allegations against him. However when the Board of Pilot commissions met this month, they decided to delay hearing on whether Simenstad's pilot license should be suspended and revoked until next month. read more
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The Port of Long Beach is looking into developing a system of shelters where port workers could find refuge in case of an airborne chemical leak. The port plans to hire ABSG Consulting Inc. to develop the "shelter-in-place" plan as part of the port's emergency management program. ABSG will be looking at whether there are some existing structures that could be modified to provide an emergency shelter and to recommend what supplies and equipment would be necessary for those shelters. It will also create a training program for port workers and employers on when and where to seek shelter. read more
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Fitch Ratings has affirmed the ‘AA' ratings on about $804 million in Port of Long Beach harbor revenue bonds and given them a rating outlook of "stable" ... The Zim Djibouti has the distinction of being the largest containership to call at the Port of Seattle to date read more
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Twenty-five trade associations representing importers, exporters, logistics industries and service providers have written a strong letter to Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Geraldine Knatz urging the port to stop lobbying for federal legislation "designed to force out of business hard working harbor truckers while simultaneously increasing costs to the Port's customers." read more
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Folks at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach have been talking about the new updated San Pedro Bay cargo forecast for weeks, but the final version of the report by the Tioga Group and IHS Global Insight is now quietly being circulated throughout the industry. The numbers have been out there for awhile - Los Angeles Executive Director Geraldine Knatz briefed her board at a July 2 meeting - but the written report helps fill in the blanks. read more
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The July container figures are out for the major West Coast ports, but the silver linings that might signal the beginning of the end to the current downturn in trade are few and far between. July containerized exports were up 4.7 percent at the Port of Seattle and up 4.6 percent at the Port of Oakland, but every other box stat at those two ports, as well as all of the stats at the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach, Port of Tacoma, and Port of Portland were down from last year. read more
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The Port Tracker Report published monthly by the National Retail Federation and IHS Global Insight is projecting that containerized retail imports coming through major U.S. ports will total 12.3 million TEUs in 2009, down 18.8 percent from 2008. If accurate, it will mark a seven-year low in consumer goods entering the nation's ports. read more
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The chances that the U.S. West Coast will ever see a liquefied natural gas import terminal are growing slimmer, based on the latest trends in the businesses that help America meet its energy demands. read more
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Auto terminals at West Coast ports have had a wild ride during the past month as stockpiled cars started "flying out the door" due to the federal Cash for Clunkers program. read more
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Voters in the Puget Sound region went to the polls last week and advanced four finalists to the general election for two Port of Seattle commission posts, while advancing one incumbent and one challenger to the general election for a Port of Tacoma post. read more
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The Port of Tacoma has announced the official completion of the widening of Blair Waterway. The Tacoma Port Commission last week accepted the final contract for waterway-related work - a $2.3 million contract with Potelco Incorporated of Sumner, Wash. to relocate overhead power lines into an underground electrical conduit system. read more
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The Port of Long Beach is building its fourth "shore power" dock to provide electric power to berthed ships ... The Port of Ensenada says shipping lines are scheduling new services and using larger vessels thanks to the port's expanded capacity ... General Petroleum Corp. at the Port of Los Angeles has become the latest company caught up in an EPA crackdown on storm water runoffs at ports. read more
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July containers stats are beginning to be posted and the situation remains grim, especially at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, which continue to mark double-digit volume losses in both inbound and outbound cargo. read more
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Folks from International Longshore and Warehouse Union Locals 13, 63 and 94 are planning to meet at noon on Thursday at the ILWU Memorial Hall in Wilmington in a show of solidarity and defiance to what they feel is a growing trend of management taking over union roles on the waterfront. The "Tri-Party" meeting - as announced in a union bulletin signed by the presidents of all three Locals - will discuss how to "devalue" company superintendents at waterfront terminals. Union folks say the company superintendents are infringing on what, by contract, is ILWU work. The union clerk supervisors and supercargoes should make assignments to Local 63 union members and the union foremen should supervise the longshore work, not the company superintendents, they say. read more
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It's been a long and expensive wait for TraPac to finally get a 30-year lease for an expanded terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, but last week that's exactly what happened. Company officials may have been pleased that the bureaucratic and regulatory nightmare had finally ended, but whatever joy they felt was marked by the knowledge that they had been the victims of political circumstance - the first major terminal project to have to navigate an ever-evolving Clean Air gauntlet that seemed to be without end. read more
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During a rare joint meeting between the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach harbor commissions, the two boards approved a plan that aims to do for area water quality what their Clean Air Action Plan has been doing for regional air quality. read more
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During the first six months of 2009, the Port of Prince Rupert posted a 124 percent increase in container traffic over the same time period in 2008. Between January 1 and June 30, the port handled a total of 97,575 TEUs - including 58,695 inbound and 38,880 outbound TEUs. read more
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A planned grain facility in Longview - slated to open in 2011 - will increase competition among Pacific Northwest ports that rely on grain for a major portion of their business and is influencing some ports to upgrade their facilities to remain competitive with the new terminal. read more
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The proposed expansion of APL's Global Gateway South terminal on Pier 300 in the Port of Los Angeles drew little opposition during a public scoping meeting on the project last week. read more
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The complete Congressional delegation representing Southwestern Washington participated in a dedication ceremony last week at the Port of Vancouver USA's new Terminal 5 ... Zim Integrated Shipping Services has returned to the Port of Seattle after a six-year absence ... China Shipping's CSCL Jakarta was the first ship to call at the newly renovated Terminal 30 at the Port of Seattle. read more
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Port of Los Angeles commissioners approved a 30-year lease today for an expanded, environmentally correct terminal for TraPac. The lease - the first to be approved under the standards established in the port's Clean Air Action Plan - comes more than a decade after the company set out to expand and upgrade its terminal in the port's West Basin. read more
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Hong Kong-based Fleet Management has pleaded guilty to violation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and agreed to pay a $10 million criminal penalty for its part in the Nov. 7, 2007 accident that spilled 53,000 gallons of bunker fuel into San Francisco Bay. The company also pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of justice and false statement charges for creating false and forged documents in an attempt to deceive the Coast Guard after the container ship Cosco Busan sideswiped the San Francisco Bay Bridge in the fog. read more
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Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach harbor commissioners today approved a Water Resources Action Plan in a joint meeting of the two boards. The plan - better known as WRAP - does for water what the ports' Clean Air Action Plan does for air. read more
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The six major West Coast ports wrote a letter to BNSF President Matt Rose last week asking him to work jointly with the ports to protect West Coast cargo from being diverted to ports on the Gulf Coast and East Coast, and in Canada, Mexico, and Panama. The letter was signed by the executive directors of the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach, Port of Oakland, Port of Portland, Port of Tacoma, and Port of Seattle. read more
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Shippers are girding for battle over a lobbying campaign by the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Oakland and Port of New York/New Jersey to amend the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act - commonly referred to as the F4A - in order to give ports more power over trucking. The efforts by the ports, the Change to Win union alliance that includes the Teamsters, and environmental groups came after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered District Judge Christina Snyder to issue a temporary injunction against certain parts of the trucking concession plans at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. read more
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The Port of Seattle is attempting to cash in on some of the shipper disgruntlement with the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach over the fees assessed to move cargo through the ports. In a full-page ad in the Journal of Commerce, Seattle sells itself as the "Fee Free" port. read more
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Jacobsen Pilot Service has worked out a deal with the Port of Long Beach to raise the port pilot rate paid by ships calling in Long Beach by 15 percent and to temporarily reduce the rent paid by Jacobsen on its pilot station from 13 percent of the company's gross revenue to 4 percent. The rent reduction will begin this month and end on July 1, 2010. read more
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A proposed federal rule for reducing emissions from the largest ships coming into the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles has backing from industry, environmental groups, and harbor area residents who are asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to move swiftly to clean up the air. read more
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The Environmental Protection Agency hearing on a proposed rule for limiting harmful emissions around the harbor drew about two dozen speakers last week. While all parties described the rule as a significant step forward, clear differences emerged on how much the proposed rule is likely to achieve and how far the EPA should go. read more
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration signed a 20-year lease Friday with the Port of Newport in Oregon to move its West Coast operations from Seattle beginning in 2011 ... A dead 46-foot fin whale was found floating in the south end of the Blair Waterway on Friday, apparently after being struck by the container ship Ever Uranus ... Congresswoman Laura Richardson has introduced two bills in the House of Representatives - one would establish a competitive federal grant program to fund port environmental projects, and the other would require Congress to allocate the Harbor Maintenance Taxes collected for dredging projects each year as intended. read more
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Despite opposition from local and statewide trucking organizations, Port of Oakland commissioners have approved a controversial goods movement resolution, which port officials say may help fund critical infrastructure projects and opponents say will open the door to an employee-mandate for truck drivers. read more
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Port of Long Beach Commissioner Mario Cordero is planning to ask his fellow commissioners to consider developing a bonding assistance program to help small businesses compete for port contracts. Cordero is concerned that the port's existing bonding requirements may be preventing small and new businesses from competing for contracts. Cordero thinks that one solution would be a port program that would help small businesses meet the bonding requirement by helping them foot part of the bill to obtain bonds. read more
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Oakland area officials and California state legislators are crafting proposals that they hope will influence Toyota Motor Corporation to keep the doors open at the NUMMI manufacturing plant in Fremont. If the plant were to close - which is feared now that GM has pulled out of its joint venture with Toyota at the plant - nearly 5,000 employees would lose their jobs, and an estimated 30,000 suppliers throughout California would lose precious orders. read more
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The California Air Resources Board held a public workshop Wednesday to discuss a Vessel Speed Reduction measure that could require ships to slow their approaches to California ports from as much as 40 miles away to reduce emissions. read more
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Port of Seattle Commissioners have authorized Executive Director Tay Yoshitani to implement a voluntary separation program to encourage employees who may otherwise be faced with layoffs to resign from the port. read more
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Thirty three Port of Oakland employees will lose their jobs before the end of the month after two of four labor unions rejected concessions that would have frozen future pay increases in order to preserve the positions. read more
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A scientific survey of main-engine container ship emissions during a one-day voyage from Los Angeles to Oakland in September 2006 has resulted in a mass of data on how many emissions were generated on a Panamax-class vessel, but researchers say more such information is needed. The survey was part of a $1.3 million program that involved the California Air Resources Board, the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach, APL, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and smaller air quality agencies in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties. read more
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The EPA plans to require stiffer emissions controls on all newly manufactured marine engines in U.S.-registered ships starting in 2011, to put strict limits on the sale of fuel with more than 1,000 ppm sulfur, and to designate a North American Emission Control Area that would have emission restrictions extending 200 miles from the coast. On Thursday, EPA officials will be in Long Beach to hear what the public has to say about it. read more
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The EPA last week proposed that APM Terminals Pacific Limited pay a $47,100 fine for violation of their storm water permit at their Pier 400 Port of Los Angeles facility ... The Federal Maritime Commission last week moved to officially drop its investigation of the clean truck programs at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach ... Terminal 30 at the Port of Seattle will soon have its first ship call, more than two months after the dedication ceremony at the new facility. read more
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In an attempt to pay off outstanding debt and maintain financial solvency, Port of Oakland commissioners have adopted a budget for fiscal year 2009-10 that includes an immediate $8 million reduction in staff costs and more than $100 million in cuts to capital expenditures slated over the next five years. read more
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After 90 minutes of debate - which included testimony from 20 speakers with sharply divided opinions - the Port of Oakland Commission has postponed action on a controversial "goods movement" resolution asking Congress to fund port infrastructure improvements and make changes in federal legislation affecting interstate commerce. At issue is a two and a half page resolution that port Executive Director Omar Benjamin says will create "clarity and parity and certainty" in federal laws.
The most contentious portion of the resolution asks Congress to consider an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA) that "currently preempts any local or state regulation related to the price, route or service of any motor carrier, and therefore may prevent further efforts by ports to increase operational efficiency and environmental protections." read more
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The Port of Long Beach posted its clean truck numbers on Friday showing truck numbers, truck moves, model years, fuel types and other related information. Unlike Port of Los Angeles, the report done for Long Beach by E2 Manage Tech numbers does not rank companies by the number of moves they made. read more
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The Plains All American Pipeline crude oil import terminal planned for Pier 400 at the Port of Los Angeles is expected to break ground by the end of the this year or the beginning of next. That's assuming the project can polish off the last-minute lawsuit brought to stop it, negotiate a lease with the Port of Los Angeles, and get final approval from the federal government in the next few months. read more
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Close to 1,000 workers will be laid off by the end of the month as a result of mediation talks breaking off between Chevron, the City of Richmond and environmentalists who successfully sued to stop an upgrade designed to increase efficiency and cut emissions at Chevron's Richmond refinery.
The parties are trying to come to an agreement on how to proceed on the project in the wake of a judge's June 5 ruling that the city-approved Environmental Impact Report for Chevron's planned hydrogen plant project was inadequate and didn't sufficiently analyze potential impacts. read more
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The odds that the federal breakwater off Long Beach will be taken down anytime soon are pretty slim. A preliminary study by the Moffatt & Nichol engineering firm recommends against removing the breakwater because it would have too many negative impacts that cannot be mitigated, including impacts on the Port of Long Beach. That's unwelcome news to area surfers who have been pushing to remove the breakwater for decades. read more
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The California Air Resources Board was advised last week that short-term steps to control emissions of non-carbon dioxide climate changing pollutants could slow the rate of global warming and buy time to implement effective curbs on CO2. Although pollutants such as methane and black carbon do contribute to global warming, they do not stay in the atmosphere for long periods. read more
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A test run of a new land-water shipping route that would travel from the Pacific Rim to inland Canada has been pushed back to at least September. Logistical problems have delayed the launch of the route, which would traverse the Port of Vancouver USA and the Columbia-Snake River system. read more
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Port of Oakland commissioners have approved a permit for Ports America to construct new entry and exit gates at its planned terminal at Berths 20-24 ... Port of Seattle officials have asked a group of homeless people to move out of an encampment they have set up at Terminal 107 ... Work is already under way for a picture book to celebrate the Port of Long Beach Centennial. read more
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A Port of Los Angeles report giving details on the number of trucks serving the port, the fleet mix, the number of gate moves, and other activity sorted by model year and fuel type, was presented to harbor commissioners last week and will soon be available to the public. It's the kind of information that the industry has speculated about since the clean truck program began. The document is the first to gather the data in the Drayage Truck Registry and report it in a format intended for public consumption. read more
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Before the recovery of West Coast trade can begin, the current decline in trade must end. But just when that will be is anybody's guess. The latest numbers for containers moved through the five major West Coast ports held little promise that it would be anytime soon. This is the time of year that container trade begins to perk up as retailers stock their shelves with back-to-school merchandise, but if there is that seasonal bump this year, it's hardly noticeable, especially in California, where imports during June were even lower than they were in the previous month. read more
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Former L.A. City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski become president of the Port of Los Angeles Board of commissioners at her first meeting last week. The vote took less than a minute and had very little fanfare. Folks who know her, say that Miscikowski is smart, knowledgeable and low-key. And for some, that "low-key" part is a welcome change from her predecessor, S. David Freeman, now a Los Angeles deputy mayor. read more
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As early as September, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach could be looking at taking the cargo infrastructure fee off the books. At last week's L.A. Harbor Commission meeting, port boss Geraldine Knatz said the staff of both ports are talking about eliminating the fee, which was adopted in January 2008 but never implemented. read more
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The Plains All American Pipeline crude oil import terminal planned for Pier 400 at the Port of Los Angeles is expected to break ground by the end of the this year or the beginning of next. That's assuming the project can polish off the last-minute lawsuit brought to stop it, negotiate a lease with the Port of Los Angeles, and get final approval from the federal government in the next few months. read more
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The Port of Los Angeles and the Army Corps of Engineers have issued a joint Notice of Intent/Preparation for a project to expand the 290-acre APL container terminal on Pier 300 by 56 acres. Issuing a NOI/NOP is the first step in the environmental review process. read more
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Construction is expected to start soon on the Lincoln Avenue grade separation within the Port of Tacoma - the first Tacoma port project to be financed in part with federal stimulus funds. read more
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Port of Tacoma officials plan to reduce the scope of work on the Blair-Hylebos Peninsula now that NYK has decided to scale back its scheduled development at the port. read more
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With the economy still in turmoil, Union Pacific Railroad is attempting to offset declines in intermodal cargo through its involvement in two niche distribution programs - one that sends used cars throughout the country and another that speeds delivery of fresh produce from California and Washington to the East Coast. read more
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The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is reaching out to truckers at the Port of Oakland with a Good Neighbor Lunch & Info Session to tell them about grants available for retrofitting trucks ... Washington Governor Chris Gregoire visited the Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE) terminal at the Port of Tacoma last week to view the first round of stimulus-funded projects to reduce port-related diesel emissions ... More than 7,000 people crowded the promenade and the fountain for the Port of Los Angeles' first "Cars & Stripes Forever!" event held July 2 to kick off the holiday weekend. read more
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Former Los Angeles City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski officially joined the Los Angeles Harbor Commission this evening and was immediately elected as president by her fellow commissioners. Although the commission formally votes for their own officers, in practice that person is designated by the mayor. read more
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Ten small to mid-sized trucking companies serving the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach have gone to the Surface Transportation Board asking that they be allowed to establish a network through which to share their clean trucks, jointly purchase such things as fuel and truck maintenance, and promote each other's services. The network would take the form of a joint-venture company called Clean Truck Coalition LLC. read more
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Port pilots in Long Beach and the Bay Area are reporting that the low-sulfur ship fuel required by the California Air Resources Board regulation that went into effect on July 1 is causing some marine engines to sputter and stall and to be difficult to start back up. At the Port of Long Beach, where there can be many turns and twists between the breakwater and the dock, there have been seven incidents in which ships must maintain higher RPMs in order to keep the engines operating as they enter the harbor. That means they come in at a slightly higher speed, making it more difficult and potentially less safe in tight quarters. read more
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Port of Oakland commissioners have once again postponed a vote on an economic analysis of a recently approved truck management program. The study, prepared by Beacon Economics, suggested a drayage model for the port that is "heavily reliant on employee-drivers" while using independent owner-operators "in limited circumstances" when cargo volumes are unusually high. read more
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The decline in the global economy is taking its toll on major railroads, with both Union Pacific and BNSF reporting thousands of furloughed employees and tens of thousands of idled rail cars and locomotives. read more
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After a 10-year hiatus, SSA is once again using its on-dock rail facilities at Terminal 18 in Seattle. Port of Seattle officials said the resumption of rail service came in response to a demand from CMA-CGM, which recently started a new service at the terminal with Maersk Line at the terminal. read more
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The Port of Long Beach hosted a pre-submittal conference Thursday for businesses planning to submit proposals for a Zero Emission Container Mover System between the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles and near-dock railyards. Submittals are due September 25. read more
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After 10 separate nominations of candidates, five separate votes, and a tense and lengthy round of verbal volleyball, the Oakland Port Commission has elected three new officers. read more
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In the midst of finalizing plans to redevelop the San Pedro waterfront, the Port of Los Angeles has commissioned a third forecast on its cruise line business. The study by Menlo Consulting Group suggests that the Port of Los Angeles should go forward with plans to expand cruise terminal facilities - even in light of nationwide recession and the port's recent loss of Royal Caribbean's "Monarch of the Seas." read more
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As the Port of Los Angeles ponders whether a $220 million investment in a cruise terminal facility will pay off, debate has already begun on where the cruise terminal - the main revenue-generating component of the San Pedro waterfront redevelopment project - should be built. read more
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The ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Oakland pocketed a healthy share of $25.4 million in stimulus grants to cut diesel emissions awarded last week by the U.S. EPA ... A new round of clean truck grant funding was offered last week to trucking companies serving the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach ... Port of Seattle commissioners have approved three security projects totaling $1.6 million. read more
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New cargo projections show that container traffic will start growing again at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach in 2010. But long-term growth will happen more slowly than previously anticipated. read more
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After more than 50 years, Jim Hankla is ready to move on from his gig as a public servant. Hankla stepped down last month as president of the Long Beach Harbor Commission. He might still be on the board, but in 2006 he got a wakeup call in the form of a heart attack. It was time to slow things down, reduce the stress, and spend more time with his family. He made it clear he was leaving the board at the end of his term, but there were also things he wanted to accomplish before he left. He said the Clean Truck Program is not yet complete, but is already a success - thanks in part to the industry stepping up and investing in clean diesel trucks. Because of that, the cleanup of the trucking fleet went faster than planned and cost a lot less. read more
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Ask S. David Freeman how he'd like to be remembered as president of the L.A. Harbor Commission and he is characteristically succinct.
"I'd just like to be remembered. That would be good enough." read more
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Two potential lawsuits that could have stalled the dredging of a 38-acre site at the Port of Los Angeles have been averted - at least for now. read more
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Three-fourths of all trucks calling at the Port of Seattle are model year 1994 or newer, and nearly a third of the vessels that call frequently at the port use lower-sulfur fuels. read more
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A car carrier fitted with 328 solar panels - the first of its kind in the world - called at the Port of Long Beach last week. The 656-foot, 60,000-ton Auriga Leader, which made its maiden voyage in December, arrived Wednesday at the Toyota terminal on Pier B carrying Lexus and Scion vehicles. The Auriga Leader has also called at the Port of Portland, in the Bay Area, and at New Westminster in British Columbia. read more
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Chevron has been ordered by Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga to halt work on its oil refinery expansion in Richmond ... A pre-submittal conference will be held Thursday at the Port of Long Beach for folks interested in pitching technology ideas for a pollution-free cargo-moving system ... Washington United Terminals and Hyundai Merchant Marine recently celebrated their 10-year anniversary at the Port of Tacoma. read more
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A loss of West Coast cargo volume, a decline in hours being worked, pension fund investment losses, and deferred actuarial costs from the 1980s and 1990s will increase the manpower, TEU, and tonnage assessments charged to provide benefits to the members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. read more
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Port of Portland Executive Director Bill Wyatt says he does not anticipate further layoffs, despite further dips in container volumes in May."We acted early and aggressively," Wyatt said. "It is unlikely we will have to do more. We cut pretty deep."  Although 50 of the port's 800-plus positions were eliminated, only 16 people lost their jobs, since many unfilled positions had been left vacant prior to the layoffs. In addition, Wyatt said he was able to reduce the total number of layoffs by instituting a furlough program. read more
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Executives from six major West Coast ports traveled to Washington last week to ask for more federal funding for freight movement and intermodal projects. The group - which included directors from the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach, Port of Oakland, Port of Seattle, Port of Tacoma and Port of Portland - met with members of Congress and with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. read more
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By mid September, six major West Coast ports and the city of Long Beach hope to see big federal stimulus bucks heading their way to speed up major shore-side power projects. read more
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After a long and contentious negotiation between the Port of Los Angeles and Gambol Industries over port plans to fill in two slips at the former Southwest Shipyard site as part of its $383 million channel-deepening project, the port board has scheduled a Monday meeting to discuss a proposed agreement between the parties. read more
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When the South Bay Clean Air Action Plan was created, everyone agreed that it should be a "living document," open to revision as time went on. The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach are now working on the second draft of the document, with plans to release a new draft for comment by the end of the summer. They had originally planned to have the second draft available last December. read more
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The Port of Long Beach has agreed to pay $8,077,083 toward debt service on the Aquarium of the Pacific in a deal with the City Redevelopment Agency in which the port will be reimbursed through public improvements constructed in the harbor district. read more
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Port of Portland officials broke ground last week on a $14 million rail project designed to increase capacity and decrease rail system congestion in the Rivergate Industrial District. The Ramsey Rail facilities will include a second main lead line and three storage tracks to serve the 2,800-acre industrial district. read more
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Seal Beach-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. is issuing 8.2 million shares of common stock, priced at $8.30 per share ... Sarens Group has acquired 100 percent of Rigging International shares in a strategic alliance that provides the Belgium company entry into the U.S. market at the same time that it strengthens the international presence of the veteran rigging/heavy haul transport company ... The 653-foot Swedish freighter Otello crashed into the wharf at the Port of Hueneme on Friday, damaging both the ship and the pier. read more
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The latest figures out on container volumes at West Coast ports include little data to suggest that recovery is just around the corner, but the decline from last year may indeed be slowing. At four of the five major West Coast container ports, the declines in container traffic from May to May were lower than what they were for the year-to-date. The one exception was the Port of Los Angeles, where May container volumes were down 16.3 percent from May 2008 and volumes for the first five months of 2009 were down 16.2 percent from the same period last year. read more
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The new intermodal chassis roadability regulations that started being phased in last week may have taken more than 10 years to develop, but there's still a lot of confusion over what they mean and what trucking companies, terminal operators, and chassis-owners will need to do to comply. Final implementation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulation is scheduled for Dec. 17. read more
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The Pacific Merchant Shipping Association has filed its final answer to how far off the coast a state can regulate what kind of fuel a ship may burn. The answer according to the PMSA, which represents shipping lines and terminal operators, is three miles. The PMSA is suing the California Air Resources Board and says that CARB's rule requiring all ships calling at California ports to burn low-sulfur fuel within 24 nautical miles of the coast exceeds the state's authority. read more
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The Port of Oakland board voted 5-1 last week to approve a Comprehensive Truck Management Program that will call for all drayage companies servicing the port to sign up in a Secure Truck Enrollment Program and be part of a truck registry database that includes the company, the truck, and the driver. read more
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It took a bit longer and it cost a whole lot more money than expected, but the Port of Long Beach and British Petroleum have made history. read more
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While the Port of Long Beach and BP have boldly gone where no one has gone before, their experience supports the notion that low sulfur fuel and the sock-on-a-stack technology may be the more cost-effective way to reduce emissions from tankers calling at oil import terminals. read more
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The "sock-on-a-stack" technology, which has been the subject of a few short-term test runs in recent years at the Port of Long Beach, is about to get an extended look. Harbor commissioners have tentatively approved up to $2.39 million for a long trial run. read more
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When the South Bay Clean Air Action Plan was created, everyone agreed that it should be a "living document," open to revision as time went on. The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach are now working on the second draft of the document, with plans to release a new draft for comment by the end of the summer. They had originally planned to have the second draft available last December. read more
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The Port of Tacoma's efforts to clean up the air in and around the harbor has resulted in more than half of the trucks and ships calling at the port reducing their emissions to meet goals, according to the port's 2008 Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy report. read more
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The projected completion time for the Blair-Hylebos Peninsula building demolition project at the Port of Tacoma is being pushed back ... The Port of Los Angeles board voted Thursday evening to approve the $144 million, 94-acre Wilmington waterfront redevelopment plan and certify the final Environmental Impact Report for the project. read more
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