The Los Angeles Harbor Commission
has approved $7.5 million for the final phase of a project to deepen the port’s
main channel. Under the project, the port’s main navigational channels and basins
are being extended to a 53-foot depth.
The project’s final phase,
for which the board approved funding Sept. 20, involves removal of dredge surcharge
material and completion of a shallow water habitat in the outer harbor. Dredging
and basin turning has already been completed.
“Channel deepening has been
our single-most important infrastructure priority,” Port of Los Angeles Executive
Director Geraldine Knatz said. “The completion of this project is critical to meeting
the needs of the shipping lines that call at our port and growing our cargo business.”
The port’s nine container
terminal tenants rely on the deep channels at the port to move cargo. According
to the port, container terminals generate about 74 percent of port revenues. The
port says the 15-year, $370 million project is expected to be completed in early
2013.
