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PORT HUENEME - Located 60-plus miles northwest of Los Angeles, the Port of Hueneme has worked hard to maintain a clear perspective of what it is and what it isn't.

One of  primary components of Hueneme's marketing strategy is the fact that it isn't a container port, and has no plans to become one. Competing with the giant mega-ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland simply isn't in the game plan.

"We'll never be a box port," said Will Berg, the ports director of marketing and trade zone services. "We don't have the infrastructure and we've found a niche providing service that the larger container load centers can't for whatever reasons. Our customers need to avoid the congestion at the larger ports because they can't afford to have their cargo sitting around on the dock. They need to move their product to market and we provide them with the facilities to do just that."

Topping the list of cargo that needs to move, literally, is automobiles.

Hueneme (pronounced "why-knee-mee") covers a total of 120-plus acres along 1.5 miles of waterfront and currently acts as the port of entry for eight European and Japanese automakers - BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Saab, Suzuki, and Volvo. The cars arrive on auto carriers operated by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Line, K Line, Nosac, NYK, and several other Ro-Ro (Roll-on / Roll-off) carriers. The vehicles are stored at the it's 18-acre North Terminal facility as well as other locations at the port for three to five days before being moved via truck or rail to auto dealerships throughout the Western US.

BMW of North America, Mazda, Global Auto Processing Services (GAPS), and Pacific Vehicle Processors operate distribution facilities on 200-plus acres nearby that detail and otherwise prepare auto imports for shipment inland.

Last year, the port handled over 235,000 import and export vehicles, as well as 55,000 metric tons of heavy construction equipment such as bulldozers, dump trucks, and cranes. As well as heavy equipment, vehicle exports have included the unusual (van conversions, ambulances, fire trucks and other emergency vehicles), the collectable (original Mini-Coopers, the occasional classic VW van, and customized "low-riders"), and the bizarre (hearses).

Hueneme will expand its auto storage capacity in July when the gate opens to a newly developed 11-acre site that will have the capacity for 2,000 additional cars.

Another cargo that needs to move rapidly has been a mainstay of the port for years - agricultural produce with bananas leading the list.

Situated at the rim of the San Joaquin Valley, which boasts some of the richest and most productive farmland in the country, Hueneme acts as a conduit for a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and other agricultural products moving both in and out of the region.

The port, now the fourth busiest in the state of California, was originally built with the specific intention of it being an entrepot for the produce grown in the region, but World War II intervened and commercial activity at the port ceased as the US Navy, in essence, commandeered the port's terminals for military cargo operations.

In the years following the war, Hueneme slowly began re-carving its niche and in 1978 Del Monte Fresh Produce began a weekly service between the port and Central America carrying bananas and other tropical fruit - a service that's been operating like clockwork for the last 25 years with a Del Monte ship arriving at the port every Monday and sailing southbound for Ecuador every Wednesday.

In 1995, Del Monte opened the doors at its on-dock Western US Distribution Center, which covers 30,000 square feet of refrigerated space in the port's South Terminal area. Plans call for the port to double the size of the facility to more than 60,000 feet and reconfigure it with enclosed truck bays later this year or in early 2004.

The Del Monte facility is the second of its kind to be built by the port.

The first, and largest, is operated by LauritzenCool Refrigerated Terminals. With more than 140,000 square feet of enclosed space, the facility is used to process inbound banana shipments and export citrus cargo.

Every week, a red-hulled LauritzenCool refrigerated ship calls at the port with Bonita-brand bananas loaded in Ecuador for Pacific Fruit Inc. Half the cargo - bound for Costco warehouse stores throughout California and Arizona - is off-loaded with the freed-up space then filled with palletized Sunkist oranges and lemons. The ship then sails westbound for Japan.

Hueneme is the primary entry port for bananas on the West Coast. Every year, the port sees more than 100 ships carrying a total of more than 375,000 tons of the product

"Upgrading the facilities we already operate is the first step in expanding operations at the port," said Berg, who also oversees the operations at the Oxnard/Port of Hueneme Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ).

Designated FTZ #205, the zone came into being in 1994 and is capable of accommodating storage and light assembly activities, all under duty-deferred status. The FTZ is made up of three sites totaling approximately 840 acres and encompasses the entire port.

"We're actively marketing the FTZ and we currently have a large, modern structure available that's equipped with overhead heavy-lift capability that we'd like to lease."

In addition, he says, the port is overseeing the raizing of three large fuel storage tanks that had been used by Southern California Edison (SCE) to store fuel for a nearby power generation plant. The tanks were rendered obsolete when SCE converted operations at the plant to natural gas several years ago. Removal of the tanks will free up an additional three acres that the port will use to expand its existing terminal and storage operations.

The port - which is administered by a five-member board of elected commissioners - is unique in that it is entirely self-sufficient, relying on port user fees to pay for maintenance, facilities improvements, and operations. All port fees, by law, have to be reinvested directly back into the port or be earmarked only for projects "which support or enhance the port's commercial operations."

One of the pillars of success for "a small niche port like ours is keeping close to our customers," said Berg.

"Our ability to meet their needs is a key part of their marketing and distribution strategies," he said. "We strive to know as much about bananas as the people at Del Monte and as much about citrus as the people at Sunkist. Every Thursday at 5 p.m. a LauritzenCool ship sails for Japan with cargo for their business partners."

Another example of the port's customer-driven marketing strategy is its  recent acquisition of the license to operate the Central Coast World Trade Center (CCWTC). The license, granted by the World Trade Centers Association in New York, gives Hueneme the go-ahead to redevelop the Center's membership-based association and reenergize the region's trade promotion activities.

Port executive staff is overseeing the project to rebuild the trade promotion group and Berg expects to see it activated within a year.  

Being small has certain advantages," he said. "We have the opportunity to be more responsive and proactive, and we can give our tenants the kind of personal attention they give their own customers. We're successful because we work hard at developing long-term relationships and concentrating on what really matters."

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