Long Beach OKs Terminals Overhaul

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners on Monday unanimously approved an exhaustive environmental study, paving the way for the port’s first major capital improvement project in more than seven years. of the long-debated Middle Harbor Redevelopment project.

The board’s action on the long-debated, $750 million Middle Harbor Redevelopment project is designed to transform two aging terminals into what the commission says will be one of the most environmentally friendly terminals in the world.

The approval suggests the port has moved far enough in a “green” direction to reach an accommodation with environmental groups that stiffly opposed port infrastructure projects.

With the significant addition of rail tracks and the incorporation of environmental technology, the new terminal will double the cargo-moving capacity of the two existing facilities while halving air pollution from operations there. Construction on the project could begin by the end of this year and will take 10 years to complete.

Approval comes as Long Beach and neighboring Los Angeles, which make up the largest U.S. container port complex, suffer plummeting volumes and the threat of declining market share. Containerized imports plunged 40 percent in February at Long Beach and 32 percent at Los Angeles.

Following a six-hour meeting that included public comment from nearly 60 speakers, the commission’s 5-0 vote certified the 1,500-page environmental impact report/environmental impact study, and approved the permits and other documents to allow construction to begin.

The project will generate as many as 1,000 construction jobs a year, as well as 14,000 jobs in the transportation sector in the region. Construction will be phased in, allowing cargo operations to continue at the two terminals, Long Beach Container Terminal and California United Terminals.

A major feature of the project will be the addition of 65,000 feet of track that will allow nearly one-third of all the cargo at Middle Harbor to be moved by train, taking trucks off the road.

The project would create a single 345-acre facility by merging the existing terminals and adding 51 acres of land by filling in slips. While the Middle Harbor Redevelopment project includes features to reduce project-specific emissions, there are cumulative impacts from overall port operations.