SSA Pacific Awarded New West Sacramento Master Lease

The Sacramento-Yolo Port Commission, which operates the Port of West Sacramento, has negotiated a new master lease of its West Sacramento maritime facilities with terminal operator SSA Pacific. The new lease, which takes effect July 1, 2013, replaces an existing terminal operations management contract between the two parties.

The new master lease shifts all maritime-related operational expenses to SSA. The port says this now enables it to reduce administrative costs and focus on development of its real estate assets.

“We’re redefining and redesigning the port and this is a critical first step,” Port Commission Chair Mike McGowan said during the commission’s May 15 meeting.

The lease is for a minimum of five years and can be extended by five-year increments to a maximum of 20 years. Minimum annual rent payments to the port start at $650,000, however the lease provides for additional revenues to the port as shipping tonnage increases.

Also part of the agreement, the port is relieved of $850,000 in existing debt to SSA, and SSA agrees to purchase the port’s existing air credits related to bulk cargo handling for $50,000.

“The new lease arrangements will allow SSA to further expand our role, attract new investment, and increase business through the port, which will be good for the City of West Sacramento and increase jobs in the area,” SSA President Mark Knudsen said in a statement.

West Sacramento Port Seeks Business Partners

The Port of West Sacramento, which has been operated by the City of West Sacramento since 2006, says it’s looking to transition to a landlord operating model that reduces cargo facility operating costs and cargo-market risks and increases the value of underused facilities and properties.

In a Request for Interest (RFI) released Feb. 1, the port revealed it’s looking to identify potential business partners to lease or operate the port’s cargo facilities and to lease, purchase or develop port-owned real estate.

The RFI, which can be found at portofwestsac.com, was released as part of a new business plan being implemented by the port.

“We’re looking for ways to ensure that the port is financially self-sufficient while remaining a long-term economic and community asset to the City of West Sacramento and greater Sacramento region,” said Port Commission Chair Mike McGowan.

Statements of interest are due by 5 pm local time on Fri., Feb. 15. They can be mailed to Port of West Sacramento, 1110 West Capitol Avenue, West Sacramento, California 95691 USA, Attention: Rick Toft.

Email responses are encouraged by the port however, and can be sent to rickt@cityofwestsacramento.org.

All responses are to be evaluated by port and City of West Sacramento staff and the Port Commission. Potential next steps include moving ahead with a formal request for proposal process, entering directly into negotiations with one or more of the potential partners, or taking no further action.

The inland Port of West Sacramento is located within the City of West Sacramento, directly across the Sacramento River from downtown Sacramento and 79 nautical miles from San Francisco. The port opened in 1963.

Additional information on the RFI can be obtained by contacting Rick Toft at (916) 617-4565 or rickt@cityofwestsacramento.org.

West Sacramento Port Moves Forward with Rail Project

The Port of West Sacramento has closed escrow on a 19-acre parcel of land that is slated to be developed into two separate projects: a rail loop and renewable fuels facility.

Sierra Northern Railway will build the loop track using $960,000 in federal rail improvement grant funds awarded to the port. Port and railway officials say the rail loop should allow port workers to load and unload rail cars more quickly and efficiently.

“This new loop track is a huge advance for the port,” Yolo County Supervisor and Sacramento-Yolo Port Commission Chair Mike McGowan said in a statement regarding the transaction. “We'll be able to … reduce rail impacts in West Sacramento.”

The renewables facility will produce biomass diesel from local municipal solid waste. Officials say the fuels facility would eventually produce 365,000 gallons of renewable diesel that would be blended with conventional diesel.

SacPort Biofuels Corp. is expected to develop a gasification process at its Port of West Sacramento facility to use landfill-bound green refuse, construction waste and plastics.

The acreage for the projects was transferred by the port to Sierra Northern June 11 for development. Both facilities are expected to be built within the next year.

Port of West Sacramento Awarded Rail Grant

The Federal Railroad Administration has awarded a grant of about $960,000 to the Port of West Sacramento for construction of a rail loop track that the port says should increase freight capacity and handling efficiency.

“We’re excited to now be moving forward with this important rail project, which is another important step in further strengthening our role as a competitive Northern California goods-movement hub,” Mike McGowan, Chair of the Sacramento-Yolo Port Commission, said.

As designed, the rail loop project would enable train switching and storage operations to take place solely on port property, plus significantly reduce surface-street blockages by freight traffic.

The planned rail loop is one of the latest a series of development projects at the port. In January, West Sacramento opened a new 5,000-foot rail track extension that links the port’s Main Terminal with a nearby cement and aggregate facility.

And later this year, it expects to launch a new federal stimulus-funded marine highway container-barge service with the ports of Oakland and Stockton.

The port is one of 12 recipients sharing about $17 million in funding under the FRA’s Rail Line Relocation and Improvement grant program, which funds projects that reduce the adverse effects of rail infrastructure on safety, motor vehicle and pedestrian traffic, community quality of life, or economic development.

Funding for the grants is made available through annual appropriations and requires a 10 percent contribution from project sponsors.

Stockton/West Sacramento Barge Project Receives Further Government Funds

The California inland port at Stockton has received another infusion of cash to complete a plan that will shift hundreds of truck-borne containers a week from area freeways to barges shuttling between Stockton and the Port of Oakland.

The Port of Stockton's so-called marine highway project, which also includes barge service to the further-inland West Sacramento port, received a $750,000 grant from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District last week.

While air quality agencies like SJVAPC typically invest in programs that replace or improve direct sources of pollution, like truck engines, the prospect of eliminating up to 600 truck trips a week from the Oakland-Stockton/West Sacramento route was enough to garner the new funds. The federal government has already pitched in $30 million for the project, which is expected to begin operation in early 2012.

Under the plan, the Stockton port – located about 75 miles inland from San Francisco Bay – will install two 140-ton gantry cranes to load and unload the two weekly barge trips. The barge, which can carry up to 350 containers, would travel along the Stockton Deepwater Ship Channel that connects the Stockton/West Sacramento ports with the Bay Area.

The target is to reduce emission generated by the more than 1,600 daily truck trips between the Central Valley ports and Oakland.

In addition to the gantry cranes, the Stockton port will also see the construction of a container staging area dedicated to the barge service. In West Sacramento, the project calls for the installation of a gantry crane and the construction of a distribution center. The Oakland port will receive funds through the project to install "ship-to-shore" power at several berths. Ship-to-shore power systems allow vessel operators to shut down an ocean-going vessel’s auxiliary diesel engines while in port, dramatically cutting the per-call emissions generated.

Northern California Ports Break Ground On Marine Highway Barge Project

Officials from the Northern California ports of Oakland, Stockton, and West Sacramento broke ground Tuesday on a $30 million project that seeks to ease local highway congestion and reduce goods-movement pollution.

The California Green Trade Corridor, when completed in early 2012, will see containers arrive at the inland Stockton and West Sacramento ports and then be transported more than 75 miles to the Port of Oakland via river barge instead of by trucks over area highways. Each barge will take the place of more than 300 truck trips.

The project is one of 18 so-called marine highway projects being supported by the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economy Recovery, or TIGER, grant program.

Tuesday's ceremonies, also attended by state and federal officials, marked the official release of the $30 million in funds for the project.
The funds will be used for:

– $13 million for the construction of a container staging area, rail extensions and crane purchases at the Stockton port.

– $8.5 million for the construction of a distribution center and purchase of cranes at the West Sacramento port.

– $8.5 million to provide ship-to-shore power at Port of Oakland berths
Although Tuesday's ground breaking was ceremonial, port officials expect to begin the bidding process for the various components of the project within the next four to eight weeks.

Sacramento Port Goes Solar

The inland California Port of West Sacramento announced that it has completed construction of a 637 kilowatt DC solar cell system to provide electric power to the port.

The system, approved in early 2008, includes more than 3,500 lead-free Mitsubishi Electric photovoltaic modules covering 90,000 square feet on the rooftops of two rice warehouse buildings at the port.

The solar system will provide about 95 percent of the port's electrical needs and reduce the port's annual energy costs by $20,000. Providing enough electricity to power nearly 90 average homes, the system will also cut the port's carbon dioxide emissions by more the 34 million pounds over the 25 years life expectancy of the system. Only one port customer, which maintains its own connection to the power grid, will not utilize power generated by the solar system. The port will continue to pull from the regular power grid when the solar system is not producing electricity.

The project was completed by a partnership between the port, Cypress, Calif.-based Mitsubishi Electric Wednesday and California commercial bank East West Bancorp, which provided the construction loan and long term financing. Construction and installation was handled by Auburn, California-based contractor Pacific Power Management LLC.

The Port of West Sacramento is located about 80 miles inland from San Francisco Bay.

NorCal Inland Container Barge Project Receives Fed Stimulus Funding

The US Department of Transportation has awarded $30 million to a partnership including the ports in West Sacramento, Oakland and Stockton to launch an inland marine highway service.

The funding, which comes from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s $1.5 billion Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER program, will be used to implement a barge service to shuttle containers between the three ports as an alternative to trucks or rail.

The barge service is expected to be up and running by the end of this year.

“Investing in infrastructure is one of the best ways to create and sustain good paying jobs,” said US Congressman Mike Thompson, whose 1st District covers the West Sacramento port.

“Every dollar we invest in infrastructure gives our economy a 59 percent return," said Thompson, adding that the TIGER program will "create both near term construction jobs, long term employment opportunities, and will deliver economic and environmental benefits to our region and state.”

In addition, the Port of West Sacramento will use a portion of the federal funding to construct a crane and other facilities needed for handling container cargo.

The ports of Stockton and West Sacramento, both located more than 75 miles inland from San Francisco Bay and accessible only by a man-made canal, have succeeded as bulk ports focusing mainly on agricultural products grown in California's Central Valley. Over the past decade both have tried to increase their ability to handle more containers as more bulk products have moved to box shipments.

According to the funding request submitted by the three ports, the marine highway project will "reduce greenhouse gas emissions, relieve congestion on Northern California and Central California highways, and help reduce round-trip and overall truck miles traveled between distribution centers and port facilities in the area, with corresponding savings in fuel costs."

DOT officials said that the TIGER program received the Recovery Act funds to "spur a national competition for innovative, multi-modal and multi-jurisdictional transportation projects that promise significant economic and environmental benefits to an entire metropolitan area, a region or the nation."