Front Page	E-mail PagePrint Version

TraPac facility project is the largest at a Port of Los Angeles container facility in a decade

LOS ANGELES – 04/03/08 – The proposed expansion of the Transpacific Container Service Corp.’s container terminal at the Port of Los Angeles has been given the go-ahead by the Los Angeles Harbor Commission, which created a $50 million mitigation trust fund as part of a settlement with the Natural Resources Defense Council and the 15 other environmental and labor groups that had originally opposed the project.

In return, opponents of the terminal expansion project would be expected to drop any threats of litigation amid concerns over air quality improvements.

The terminal expansion plan – the largest at the port in almost a decade – now goes to the Los Angeles City Council for final approval.

If approved, monies for the trust fund would be drawn from a fee of $1.50 for each additional cruise ship passenger and at least $2.00 for each new cargo container projected as part of port growth.

Oversight will be carried out by a non-profit organization charged with seeking out grants and donations to augment the fund.

According to port officials, about $12 million of the fund will be set aside for the first year of the five-year settlement, with about half of the funds earmarked for air filtration systems that will be installed at port-area schools.

At the same time, approximately $300,000 will be used to complete a study examining port-related health impacts and land use in the communities of San Pedro and Wilmington.

The harbor commission originally approved the terminal operator’s expansion plan in December, allowing the terminal operator to process nearly 70% more cargo containers while producing fewer diesel emissions.

The TraPac terminal is located at Berths 135-139 in the Port of Los Angeles’ West Basin and encompasses 173 acres.

The facility features 11 post-Panamax container cranes working 5 berths with a maximum depth of 53 feet and currently serves several steamship companies including Compania Sudamericana de Vapores (CSAV), APL, CMA-CGM, and TraPac’s parent, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines.

Work on the $1.5 billion expansion project is expected to start in July and calls for dredging to deepen the terminal's berthing areas, renovating 3,000 feet of wharf, building 705 feet of new wharf, redeveloping 57 acres into container terminal backlands, and establishing a new on-dock rail yard.

In addition, improvements will be made to Harry Bridges Boulevard and a 30-acre “green buffer area” to separate the terminal from the adjacent community of Wilmington.

The project also includes a phased-in plan requiring all of the TraPac terminal's ships to plug into shore-side AMP – alternative maritime power – outlets within the next ten years.

Go back, or read the latest Front Page stories:

Obama Should Complete Doha Round, CEOs Say

NEW YORK – 11/20/08 – A number of senior level corporate executives are urging the incoming Obama Administration to complete the long-stalled Doha Round of international trade talks in a new report published by the Wall Street Journal; responding to the report, New York Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer said that the Obama Administration and ''Democrats in general think we should trade in the global world,'' but concerns about ''income inequality'' should make business and government ''work together to cushion the blow.''