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2012 Focus On International Trade Long Beach Business Journal
“So the new facility not only is fully electrified, which obviously reduces the emissions, but the ships will all be on cold-ironing, alternative marine power,” Otto says. “All the buildings are constructed to the LEEDS (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Standards) gold standard. We have solar panels that will assist in powering some of the operation, and offsetting some of that electrical demand. Anything that does run on diesel will be the most modern, most efficient, most technologically advanced, as far as emissions are concerned. We are bound to that by the lease.” Every element of the Middle Harbor project will be designed with minimizing the environmental and community impacts in mind, Otto says. The cranes are rail-mounted, the newest technology, which also happens to eliminate the air particulate pollution associated with rubber tires – you’d be surprised how much of the pollution you breathe on a daily basis comes from car and truck tires. Storm water that reaches the terminal will be collected and properly processed, rather than simply being dumped into the ocean. Even expanding the ship-to-rail capabilities pays environmental dividends; the more containers that are loaded directly onto rails, the fewer trips trucks make on local highways. It’s green thinking, from top to bottom, and it’s really the only way to continue and expand operations in the future. The terminal will be designed to accommodate the newest, largest ships, and that will make Middle Harbor one of the few places they can dock. This actually will pay dividends in environmental terms, Otto says. “The newer ships are definitely more environmentally friendly, not only from an emissions standpoint, but as well as some of the onboard services that they have. The newer ships absolutely keep the carbon footprint in mind,” Otto says. “What really benefits the local area is the fact that the ships that call on Middle Harbor will be required within 40 nautical miles to burn only low-sulfur fuel. That’s a requirement of this new facility. When they’re in port, they have to plug into shore power, so they’re not creating emissions. It’s light-years ahead of what it was.” It’s a big project – it will take nearly a decade to build out completely, Otto says. OOCL’s willingness to commit to a $4.6 billion, 40-year lease is an indication of how important the company believes the Long Beach port is to its future operations. The company is one of the largest shipping lines in the world, with more than 270 ships and numerous offices around the globe. Even the expansion of the Panama Canal, which would allow container ships from Asia to sail directly to the East Coast, will not diminish the importance of the Long Beach portal to the U.S. market, Otto says. “The fact is that roughly 50 percent of the volume, slightly more than 50 percent of the volume, is headed for Southern California consumption,” Otto says. “It is unprecedented in terms of its financial commitment to this region, to this gateway and to this port as its preferred gateway into the U.S. “A lot of people talk about the Panama Canal and its widening in 2014 and the impact that may have on this port. We don’t see it that way. And, obviously, our parent company sees the Port of Long Beach’s competitiveness going forward for the next 40 years. Their commitment is a vote of confidence.” ■
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OOCL’s Qingdao pulls into Long Beach Container Terminal on April 17 with a ship full of containers. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)