Long Beach Commission Approves Bridge Replacement Contract

The Port of Long Beach’s Board of Harbor Commissioners on May 14 gave its preliminary approval to a contract to design and build a replacement for the Gerald Desmond Bridge, the nearly 45-year-old corridor that crosses the Cerritos Channel.

The commission voted unanimously to award a $649 million contract to a consortium of companies that includes Shimmick Construction, FCC Construction and Impreglio SpA. The project consists of replacement of the current bridge, which has been structurally obsolete for years and faces critical maintenance issues.

“Today is an historic day,” commissioner Rich Dines said at the time of the vote. “I look forward to having this bridge built on time and under budget and creating many thousands of jobs. It’s been a long time coming.”

According to the port, replacement of the bridge will increase the water-to-bridge clearance from 154 feet to 205 feet, allowing larger ships to call at the port’s inner harbor terminals. The work to be performed includes building a six lane, cable-stayed bridge; the current bridge has four lanes and has a through arch design.

The consortium beat out two other companies for the contract and was not only the lowest bidder, but its technical proposal was ranked the highest by the selection committee, which included a representative each from the port, the California Dept. of Transportation and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the three agencies that are teaming to pay for the project.

Under port bylaws, a second vote by the commission is needed to formally ratify the agreement; that vote’s expected to take place in late June. Construction could begin as soon as early 2013.

MOL to Call at Port of Seattle

Mitsui OSK Lines and the New World Alliance announced on May 11 a new service at the Port of Seattle that it’s believed will result in more capacity and faster transit times for improved exports to Asia.

MOL’s PSX service will add a Seattle call at APL’s Terminal 5 beginning May 21, which the port says will provide expanded coverage and capacity for cargo from the Pacific Northwest.

In addition to Seattle, the PSX will also add stops in Vancouver, BC, Tokyo and Yantian to the 10 other stops, which include Hong Kong, Oakland and Los Angeles.

“We appreciate MOL’s business, as their containers mean more jobs for our region,” Linda Styrk, the Port of Seattle’s managing seaport director, said in a statement announcing the move.

These vessels will be the first MOL ships to call Seattle since 2008, and average over 6,300 TEU in size. Last year, the Port of Seattle harbor handled over two million 20-foot equivalent containers.

Port of Everett Could Buy Former Mill Site

The Port of Everett is reportedly exploring whether to buy a 66-acre site that formerly housed a waterfront paper mill and is known to have dangerous levels of contaminants in the soil.

The mill, which closed in April, was operated by tissue manufacturer Kimberly-Clark. The mill is considered attractive to the port for many reasons, among them being that it’s located on a large, industrial tract that has access to a deep-water channel on Puget Sound, as well as a railroad and a dedicated water supply pipeline.

Everett, which is located 25 miles north of Seattle on the Puget Sound, operates eight berths situated on about 100 acres of land, plus a bulk unloading facility, multi-purpose warehouse and is served by BNSF Railway.

Everett’s South Terminal, which includes a 75-foot wharf and is dredged to minus-40 feet MLLW, is just south of the mill site. The port could use the property to expand shipping operations, a port spokesman said. Among the obstacles, he said, would be financing the purchase and the cost to cleaning up the property, which has seen decades of pollution on the land and in underlying sediment.

Unsafe levels of petroleum, dioxins and other unsafe substances have been previously found in the waterway next to the plant.

Kennedy Rails Against Pacific Northwest Coal Projects

Environmental activist and attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says that coal export terminals planned for about half a dozen locations throughout Oregon and Washington would lead to environmental damage and political malfeasance, while creating a minimal number of jobs.

“It’s going to end up leaving Portland with a legacy of pollution, poison and corruption,” Kennedy said of coal exports during a May 7 anti-coal rally at Portland’s Pioneer Square. The event was organized by environmental groups the Sierra Club and Columbia Riverkeeper, which have been involved in concerted efforts to prevent Pacific Northwest ports from developing terminals that would export coal to Asian countries.

The environmentalists argue that the resulting dust from the trains hauling the coal to coastal ports from the Midwest and elsewhere would pollute the countryside along the proposed routes.

During the anti-coal rally, Kennedy claimed coal export companies would inevitably pay off legislators to see pro-coal legislation passed, using the prospect of job creation as a selling point.

“It poisons democracy, it poisons communities, it poisons values,” Kennedy warned. “Coal is crime. Do not let it come through this community.”

Despite the vocal opposition however, about half a dozen Oregon and Washington ports are currently considering coal export terminal proposals, partially because of the jobs they would bring and the positive economic impact they could have on the surrounding communities.

Among them is the Port of Longview, where Millennium Bulk Terminals has applied for permits to build a $600 million terminal in a bid to become one of the largest coal exporters in North America.

Coal companies have also submitted permits to build export terminals at or near Port Westward near Clatskanie; Port Morrow and Port of Bellingham. Two other proposals have surfaced in Coos Bay and Hoquiam, but no formal permit requests have been filed as of yet.

In response to the controversy, numerous state and regional officials and entities, including Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, Washington state Ecology Director Ted Sturdevant and the US Environmental Protection Agency have weighed in, with each saying that a comprehensive study is needed to study the full potential cumulative environmental effects of the coal export proposals.

Nanaimo Port Authority Eyes Upgrades, Modernization

The Nanaimo Port Authority, which operates the Port of Nanaimo in British Columbia, has unveiled what it calls its ”Path 2025” strategic direction, designed to address the port’s need for upgrades and modernization over the next decade.

As part of its plan, the port authority hopes to reach agreements with private companies for investment in up to 30 port land use projects.

“We need world class facilities to be competitive and to bring new economic development opportunities to Nanaimo,” Port Authority President and CEO Bernie Dumas said. ”We are reviewing how we use all our assets so we can operate our core elements effectively and efficiently while providing a stronger transportation system for Vancouver Island.”

Among the priorities, Dumas said, is upgrading the Commercial Inlet Basin and Marina in downtown Nanaimo with more commercial and transportation activities, and modernizing and extending commercial activity at the Duke Point Terminal.

A key element of the plan is transforming the Nanaimo Assembly Wharf lands into a mix of commercial and light industry uses to help spur growth.

Dumas said that the Port Authority, which runs Nanaimo on behalf of the Canadian government, recognizes that it doesn’t have all the answers and will continue to look to the business community to bring in proposals for different land use.

“Our goal is to attract new economic activity in Nanaimo with our port assets,” he said. “Our role as stewards of marine safety and sustainability means all proposals need to be balanced and considered through the lens of social, commercial, environmental and transportation requirements.”

  

Global Container Terminals Announces Expansion Project

Global Container Terminals, which operates facilities at Port Metro Vancouver in British Columbia as well as in the New York-New Jersey area, has unveiled plans for a multi-million dollar project to develop a 70-acre container terminal on the Bayonne, NJ, waterfront.

The company promises that when complete, Global Terminal at Port Jersey would be the most advanced marine terminal within the Port of New York and New Jersey.

The expanded facility, scheduled to open in 2014, is expected to improve the competitiveness of the Port of New York and New Jersey via a world-class terminal designed to handle the largest container vessels at greater throughput density per acre, the company says.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey acquired the project land, which adjoins Global’s existing facility in 2007. Both the existing Global Terminal and the expansion area are situated on New York Bay.

With 50 feet of water depth at its new berths, Global Terminal will be able to handle the largest container vessels in the world, according to the company, and have total capacity to move 1.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units annually.

“Our expanded Global Terminal facility will come on line precisely in time to help meet the demands of larger vessels transiting the Suez Canal and new wider Panama Canal,” Global President and CEO James Devine said.

BNSF, Union Pacific See Quarterly Profits Rise

Both of America’s largest railroads, which play important roles in shipping goods to and from West Coast ports, reported an increase in profits during the first quarter of 2012.

BNSF Railway reported net income of $789 million for the first quarter, up almost 16 percent from the same period in 2011. The company’s overall revenue for the three-month period that ended March 31 was $4.9 billion, up 10 percent compared to a year ago.

The rise, the railroad says, is partially attributable to average revenue per car or unit increases for all business units due to higher rates and higher fuel surcharges.

BNSF's principal rival, Union Pacific, which is the No. 1 U.S. publicly held railroad, reported first-quarter revenue of a record $5.1 billion, up 14 percent a year earlier. The company’s first-quarter profit was $863 million, or $1.79 per share, a jump of 35 percent from a year-earlier profit of $639 million, or $1.29 per share.

The increased traffic and financial gains are being attributed to various factors, including coal demand; higher domestic intermodal volume driven by highway conversions to rail, and higher volumes of automotive shipments, driven by increased North American auto sales and dealerships rebuilding vehicle inventories.