Harbor Commissioners News

Officials dedicated two new Port of Long Beach fireboat stations that are enhancing the Long Beach Fire Department’s waterside and landside emergency response capabilities, better safeguarding visiting ships, cargo and waterfront workers.The facilities – Fireboat Station 15 and Fireboat Station 20 – are the products of a $109 million Port of Long Beach program to preserve business continuity, security and economic interests. With an anticipated lifespan of 50 years, both stations…

Port Milwaukee’s Board of Harbor Commissioners unanimously approved its new ‘StewardSHIP’ sustainability initiative for vessels that have implemented emission reduction measures and other environmental improvements. The port’s newly-approved 2022 tariff creates the program, which will benefit Milwaukee’s harbor by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, deploying clean energy solutions, and supporting climate adaptation activities at the port. The tariff goes into effect April 1, 2022…

Port Milwaukee is entering into a lease agreement with Pearl Seas Cruises to give the company priority docking rights for its cruise ships at Pier Wisconsin, the downtown dock immediately east of Discovery World museum. The Board of Harbor Commissioners approved the agreement at its meeting Thursday morning.“Pearl Seas has been a great partner with our port, bringing passengers to our city and establishing Milwaukee as a center of Great Lakes cruising,” Mayor Tom Barrett said. “Starting with the 2021 cruise season, that partnership is growing, which is wonderful news for the city, for Pearl Seas, and for the vacationers discovering Great Lakes Cruising.”The cruise line’s ship, the Pearl Mist, has visited Milwaukee regularly in recent years.

The Connecticut Port Authority (CPA) approved the appointment of John Henshaw as its new executive director, effective September 8, 2020.Henshaw comes to the CPA after serving as the executive director of the Maine Port Authority for over 10 years and after serving as commissioner for the Board of Harbor Commissioners for the Port of Portland.He was selected for the position following an extensive search by the CPA board for a candidate with a specific set of skills and experience.

The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) has elected Mario Cordero, executive director of California’s Port of Long Beach, to serve as the association’s next Chairman of the Board.Cordero will be installed as Chairman on the final day of AAPA’s 2020 Annual Convention, set for September 13-16, in Québec City, QC, Canada. He will assume the AAPA chairmanship from Gary G. Nelson, executive director of Washington State’s Port of Grays Harbor, who began his term on October 15…

Port of Long Beach (PoLB) informed that the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners voted unanimously to promote Heather Tomley, a widely respected Southern California leader in environmental improvement programs, to Managing Director of Planning and Environmental Affairs for the Harbor Department.Tomley, with the Department since 2005, has served as the Acting Managing Director for the past 12 months while the Port conducted a nationwide search for candidates for the executive position.“Heather has deep experience creating and managing cutting-edge projects that have dramatically improved air quality and earned crucial industry cooperation…

The Port of Long Beach, one of the greenest ports in the world, has selected HDR to perform the final design as it moves ahead with its $870 million effort to streamline rail operations and reduce bottlenecks at the second-busiest container port in the U.S.The Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility Project will expand the port’s capability for loading shipping containers directly on rail cars instead of being loaded on trucks for short-haul trips. The expansion and reconfiguration of the existing Pier B railyard will create a staging area for loading freight trains nearly 2 miles long…

The U.S. gateway for trans-Pacific trade Port of Long Beach announced $100,000 in scholarships for 77 local college and high school students as part of a dramatically expanded and acclaimed education outreach effort. The students receiving the scholarships were recognized at the Port’s sixth-annual “Celebrating Education” event, along with the Port’s 25 incoming high school summer interns, and the 22 local teachers who were trained in engineering education earlier this year as part of the Port's externship program. The event brings together students, educators, public officials and business leaders to highlight the Port’s education outreach programs and accomplishments in the goods movement industry. This year’s event was held at the Long Beach Marriott as part of World Trade Month.

Marine contractors, Keynvor Morlift (KML), played a significant role on Tuesday in saving the Russian ship, ‘Kuzma Minin’, which ran aground just off Gyllyngvase Beach in Falmouth.KML’s large all weather commercial Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB), was the 1st vessel alongside after the ship ran aground at around 0500 on Tuesday morning. The RIB was mobilized with team members from both KML and Seawide Services. KML’s multicat ‘Sarah Grey’, together with KML heavy anchors, ground tackle and salvage equipment…

The Port of Long Beach received a $14 million grant from the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program (TCEP) to offset construction costs for a $25 million rail project to increase efficiency and reduce local traffic.The grant will fund the port's Pier G and J Double Track Access Project, which is designed to allow for better use of the on-dock rail yards at Piers G and J. It will help pay for improvements to freight corridors across California using designated transportation funds from Senate Bill 1 and the National Highway Freight Program.The Port will contribute the remaining $11 million for the $25 million project, which aims to increase operational efficiency, reduce delays by providing greater reliability for on-dock rail and decrease roadway congestion by shifting more containers to rail.

The following information was released by the Port of Los Angeles:Because our facilitation of a safe and secure supply chain is top priority at the Port of Los Angeles, the incident involving an export-bound shipping container that exploded inside a marine terminal storage area here on October 30 is of paramount concern to the Los Angeles Harbor Department and Los Angeles Port Police. Preliminary analysis by the Los Angeles Port Police Hazardous Materials Unit, Los Angeles Police…

The Port of Long Beach and six other international seaports recognized for advancing innovative environmental initiatives are combining forces to launch the "World Ports Climate Action Program."Long Beach will join port authorities in Los Angeles; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Hamburg, Germany; Barcelona, Spain; Antwerp, Belgium; and Vancouver, Canada in developing projects to address global warming and meet the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement, a United Nations-led effort to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions."This partnership helps to raise awareness about global warming throughout the port industry and ensures that we are working toward the same goals on an international scale," said Mario Cordero, Executive Director of the Port of Long Beach.

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners has given Toyota Logistics Services the green light to carry out a proposed major terminal upgrade project that includes the construction of a renewable energy fuel-cell power plant and hydrogen fueling station.The planned redevelopment aims to improve efficiency at the Toyota-operated marine terminal at Long Beach's Pier B, where new automobiles are offloaded from ships, processed and transported off-site via truck and railroad.Work on the private project…

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners is scheduled to vote Monday, Aug. 13, on a proposal by Toyota Logistics Services to reconfigure its facility at Pier B and build a renewable fuel-cell power plant and hydrogen fueling station.The study being released by the Port is called an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND), meaning that no substantial evidence was found that the project would have a significant effect on the environment.Public comment on the proposal was accepted through July 10 and a final study and Notice of Intent have been issued.Toyota operates a marine terminal at the Port where new automobiles are off-loaded from ships, processed and transported off-site via truck or rail.

The Port of Long Beach said it has taken another step toward building two new stations to house fireboats and provide emergency response for one of the nation’s major commercial gateways. On Monday, Harbor Commissioners approved engineering design services for Fireboat Stations Nos. 15 and 20. The Commission also approved a baseline project budget of $50.1 million for the first station to be built: Fireboat Station No. 15. will be located on the Main Channel, and is scheduled to be completed in 2020. The second station, Fireboat Station No.

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners is all set to name Mario Cordero, a former chairman and current member of the Federal Maritime Commission(FMC), as the Port of Long Beach’s (POLB) new Executive Director. Cordero, a Long Beach resident and attorney, served previously as president and as a longtime member of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners. “After a comprehensive international search, the Board of Harbor Commissioners recognized that Mario Cordero is an ideal choice to lead the Port of Long Beach,” said Harbor Commission President Lori Ann Guzmán. Lori added: “Mario not only has a deep understanding of the maritime industry from his leadership of the Federal Maritime Commission…

The Port of Long Beach’s Harbor Commission on Wednesday approved an agreement to replace the bankrupt operator of its largest cargo terminal. The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners greenlighted the move by a subsidiary of Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) to take over sole control of the long-term lease of the port’s 381-acre Pier T container terminal from from Hanjin Shipping, a South Korean ocean carrier that declared bankruptcy on August 31. Previously, MSC held a minority stake in the lease for Pier T, where more than a quarter of the Port’s container cargo is moved. The Harbor Commission’s new agreement with MSC subsidiary Terminal Investment Limited (TIL) also guarantees the accelerated installation of ship-to-shore cranes capable of handling the world’s biggest container ships.

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners will consider a proposal by a terminal investor to take over a majority stake in a long-term lease to operate the largest container terminal in the Port of Long Beach. If approved, the pact could bring in business to replace the cargo volume lost at Long Beach’s Pier T when South Korea’s Hanjin Shipping declared bankruptcy in August. Terminal Investment Limited (TIL), a subsidiary of the Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC), earlier this week announced it had signed an agreement to purchase Hanjin Shipping’s stake in the terminal operator at Pier T.

The Port of Long Beach sails into 2017 propelled by transformative modernization projects all across the harbor, excellent financial health, an industry-leading record of environmental progress, and a strong commitment to working with the City and neighbors, said Harbor Department leaders Wednesday morning at the annual “State of the Port” event. About 300 industry stakeholders, civic leaders and community members attended the gathering at the Long Beach Convention Center to hear about the Port’s plans to enhance its rail network and other efficiencies to pursue competitiveness in the year ahead. Despite a 2016 that took the shipping industry and the Port into some rough seas…

Renewed activity at the Port of Long Beach’s largest terminal and extra ships calling ahead of the Lunar New Year pushed cargo 8.7 percent higher in January compared to the same month a year ago. Dockworkers moved 582,689 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last month. Exports were strong, jumping 10.8 percent year-over-year to 118,234 containers. Imports increased 7.4 percent to 298,990 TEUs, while empties sent back to the Far East rose 9.6 percent to 165,465. Growth at terminals was led by the Port’s Pier T terminal, operated by Total Terminals International (TTI). The terminal is now controlled by Terminal Investment Limited (TIL), a subsidiary of Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC), the world’s second-largest ocean carrier.

Port of Long Beach CEO Jon Slangerup announced his resignation, effective October 28, 2016. Slangerup will step down as head of the nation’s second largest port to take a position as Chairman and CEO of an aviation technology company effective October 31, 2016. Soon after joining the port in June of 2014, Slangerup helped address the major congestion challenge that affected the San Pedro Bay port complex and the national goods movement network. He worked with local, regional and federal stakeholders  to restore operations in less than half the time expected.

The Port of Long Beach is helping to clear a significant backlog of empty cargo containers from Southern California and free up the chassis they sit on, as part of an agreement with terminal operator Total Terminals International (TTI) to bring in a container ship to remove up to 4,300 empty containers. The bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping declared on Aug. 31 resulted in a significant buildup of empty containers across Southern California, tying up the chassis they rest on. “The Port of Long Beach recognized the urgency to alleviate the shortage created by the estimated 6,000 Hanjin-leased containers sitting on chassis which are needed throughout Southern California to move goods in and out of the region,” said Lori Ann Guzmán, President of the Board of Harbor Commissioners.

Aggressively deploying zero and near-zero emission trucks and cargo-handling equipment and expanding programs that reduce ship emissions are among the core strategies the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are proposing for the next version of San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP). Proposals also focus on freight infrastructure investment, innovation and technology to improve supply chain efficiency, comprehensive energy planning, and increased advocacy for stricter emissions standards and government incentives to help pay for projects that advance testing and commercialization of zero and near-zero emission vehicles. The updated CAAP provides one of California’s first opportunities to implement the vision laid out in the State’s Sustainable Freight Action Plan.