The Port of Long Beach on May 14 held a ceremony to
commemorate construction of its in-progress $1.2 billion Middle Harbor
construction project and a new 40-year, $4.6 billion lease on the property with
Orient Overseas Container Line.
The event, which includes a ceremonial contract signing,
attracted numerous industry and civic leaders, including OOCL CEO Philip Chow, International
Longshore and Warehouse Union International President Robert McEllrath and Long
Beach Mayor Bob Foster.
“What we speak of today is a collective vision - a vision to
make the Port of Long Beach one of the world's most competitive ports,” Chow
said during the ceremonies. “And the new design will make the Middle Harbor
terminal the greenest in North America.”
Long Beach’s Middle Harbor project consists of combining
two older facilities - one of which is vacant, and the other occupied by OOCL
subsidiary Long Beach Container Terminal - into one facility that the port says
could more than double trade while at the same time reduce air pollution by
half.
Under the project, LBCT is expected to expand from its
current 90-acre facility to the new, 304-acre terminal.
“In our industry we are too often criticized for lacking
vision and not being forward thinking - the Middle Harbor project will turn all
of that around,” LBCT President Anthony Otto said in prepared remarks during
the ceremony. “This project is a testament to the concept of the whole being
greater than the sum of its parts.”
