Marine Terminals Corp. To Operate Oakland Terminal

Marine Terminals Corp. (MTC) will operate Oakland's Seventh Street Marine Container Terminal for the next 10 years under a new management agreement that, reportedly for the first time, commits a terminal operator to a major facility improvement program.

The three-berth, 56-acre terminal serves some of the port's largest container carriers, including the transpacific services of Hanjin, Hyundai and Yangming. It accounted for 136,000, more than 10 percent, of the total number of TEUs the Oakland port handled in 1993. The pact calls for San Franciscobased MTC to build a $5 million terminal gate and related infrastructure. Now in design by the Oakland- based engineering and architectural firm of Jordan-Woodman- Dobson, the 10-lane complex will make extensive use of computer and video technology to speed the movement of containers and other cargo on and off the wharves. Construction is expected to start in October and be completed early next year. MTC's investment will be repaid over the life of the agreement. As reimbursement for the improvements, MTC will receive an additional 2.5 percent of gross tariff dockage and wharfage fees from new activity generated at the facility.