Long Beach Temporarily Allows Additional Container Stacking
Given this current national emergency related to the supply and distribution of imported goods arriving in the nation’s ports and the Gov. Newsom’s Executive Order to take necessary steps to alleviate the impacts on the system, the city manager has temporarily waived enforcement of current shipping container stacking and height limits for a period of 90 days starting Oct. 22, 2021.
Details: www.longbeach.gov/-statement-on-temporarily-allowing-additional-container-stacking
California, DOT Partner on Supply Chain Infrastructure Program
Gov. Newsom and the Department of Transportation will partner to facilitate projects and financing opportunities for multi-billion infrastructure improvements in California.
The agreement allows California to expedite work on a network of related projects – rather than using a piecemeal approach – that will help grow the economy, protect the environment, facilitate the movement of imports and exports and bring supply chain processes into the 21st century, including around San Pedro Bay and the Inland Empire.
This partnership can help kick-start construction to deliver benefits to the transportation supply chain and U.S. consumers in the future. Projects that could receive support through this agreement include:
- Port-specific upgrades;
- Expanding capacity for freight rail;
- Developing inland port facilities for increased warehouse storage;
- Railyard and truck electrification;
- Highway upgrades to improve truck travel times;
- Grade-separated crossings to reduce the number of rail-street intersections and improve safety and efficiency;
- Land ports of entry to expand trade capacity and cross-border commerce;
Other eligible projects of critical importance identified by the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA).
Port of Long Beach Meets 2023 Clean Air Goals
For the first time, and because of unique factors, the Port of Long Beach has achieved all of the 2023 emission-reduction goals outlined in the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan.
The Port’s annual emissions inventory report, presented to the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners Oct. 28, found diesel soot is down 90%, smog-forming nitrogen oxides have decreased 62%, and sulfur oxides have decreased 97%, all while container throughput has increased 21%. The pollution levels are all compared to the 2005 baseline, the year before the original San Pedro Bay Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) was adopted.
Those unique factors that affected activity, efficiency, and thus emissions in 2020, are largely related to the COVID-19 pandemic. These included the stoppage of cruise ship passenger operations in mid-March and fewer oil tankers calling the port.
The 2017 CAAP Update incorporates numerous strategies to reduce emissions from port-related operations in San Pedro Bay. The Technology Advancement Program nurtures the development of technology to support the development of equipment and reach the CAAP’s emissions targets. Approximately 16% of the cargo-handling fleet at the Port, or about 235 pieces of equipment, is powered by electricity today.
Greenhouse gas emissions increased 7% between 2019 and 2020. Officials connected the increase in emissions to cargo-handling equipment and heavy-duty truck activity related to record activity in 2020. The annual emissions inventory is reviewed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, California Air Resources Board and South Coast Air Quality Management District.
Details: www.polb.com/environment/air/#emissions-inventory
POLB Attracts New Space Tech Tenant
The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners Oct. 28, approved an agreement with ABL Space Systems to build a spacecraft processing facility at the Port of Long Beach and use waterfront area for the delivery and shipping of its cargo.
El Segundo-based ABL Space Systems, founded in 2017, will take over 8.06 acres of land and 1.31 acres of submerged land at the Navy Mole on the Port’s Pier T, which was formerly part of the Long Beach Naval Station.
The agreement comes five months after the POLB leased a site to SpaceX, adjacent to what will now become the ABL Space Systems site. SpaceX uses its site as a marine terminal for its West Coast rocket recovery operations.
Included in the five-year lease is a 25,000-square-foot integration and payload processing facility, 20,000-square-foot warehouse space, and a 13,000-square-foot office space. This location, previously occupied by Sea Launch, will be used by ABL for a wide range of operations, including vehicle processing, payload integration, and maritime operations that support the company’s global network of launch facilities.