INFRASTRUCTURES * USA - Los Angeles Port's Rivals Make Gains

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Wall Street Journal, by NICHOLAS CASEY -APRIL 14, 2009: -- Next month, shipping giant AP Moeller-Maersk will make a move that would have been unlikely a decade ago. A line of 6,000-container ships that now goes to Southern California will dock in Seattle instead... While that represents a small fraction of the eight million containers handled annually at the Port of Los Angeles, it is an example of how the nation's largest port is coming under pressure as volumes drop. New regulations, such as tougher environmental restrictions, have made the port more fuel efficient, but the additional costs have made it more vulnerable to losing market share of U.S.-bound goods... Container volume at Los Angeles was down 6% in 2008 and fell 32% in February from a year earlier. The hub of roughly 42,000 jobs is preparing for possible midyear budget cuts, and many longshoremen are working part-time. Other ports have seen large declines, too... This drop in volume comes just as ports from Portland, Ore., to British Columbia (CAN), are rolling out new infrastructure in a bid to grab more of the container business. Some offer quicker transport times from Asia, or fewer environmental restrictions on trucks -- pitches that are increasingly compelling in the global trade slowdown...


* Long Beach Middle Harbor Passes Green Test - Board unanimously approves Environmental Impact Statement

Long Beach,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce, by Peter T. Leach -Apr 14, 2009: -- The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners on Monday unanimously approved an exhaustive environmental study, paving the way for the port’s first major capital improvement project in more than seven years... The board’s action on the long-debated, $750 million Middle Harbor Redevelopment project is designed to transform two aging terminals into what the commission says will be one of the most environmentally friendly terminals in the world... The approval suggests the port has moved far enough in a “green” direction to reach an accommodation with environmental groups that stiffly opposed port infrastructure projects since early this decade. Long Beach and neighboring Los Angeles, which make up the United States' largest container port complex, have been the most aggressive ports in the nation on environmental initiatives, including a controversial clean-trucks program aimed at slashing emissions... With the significant addition of rail tracks and the incorporation of environmental technology, the new terminal will double the cargo-moving capacity of the two existing facilities while halving air pollution from operations there. Construction on the project could begin by the end of this year and will take 10 years to complete... (Photo of Middle Harbor courtesy Port of Long Beach)