Long Beach Port Aims To Grow Cargo, Cut Emissions With Ship Incentives - Long Beach Business Journal

Posted - July 17, 2012 - By Sean Belk - Staff Writer - Long Beach Business Journal

The Port of Long Beach is rolling out programs aimed at both: encouraging the newest and cleanest oceangoing vessels to continue moving cargo through the West Coast seaport; and providing financial incentives to reduce heavy emissions caused by ships in and around San Pedro Bay.
The Long Beach Harbor Commission at its July 2 meeting approved a “dockage incentive program,” which caps daily dockage fees for the world’s largest ships, and a “wharfage incentive program,” which rewards ocean carriers that move additional cargo by rail. Both programs are expected to go into effect starting August 1.
The dockage incentive includes capping daily dockage fees at $8,641 per day for ships longer than 345 meters, or 1,132 feet. At the current rate, the largest vessels, which typically carry 13,000 twenty-foot-equivalent container units or larger, would have to pay more than $11,000 per day in dockage fees. The port estimates the incentive is expected to cost the port about $438,672 in lost fee revenue.
There are few ports in the United States other than the Port of Long Beach with the capabilities and “deep water” channels to handle such massive ships that are lengths the size of the Empire State Building. Port staff said larger ships provide more capacity for ocean carriers and are more cost effective and efficient than smaller ships, since carriers are able to load more cargo and cut down on fuel and operational costs.
The port launched a “Big Ship Ready” advertising campaign this year, aimed at showcasing the port’s infrastructure and capabilities at a time when competition among West Coast ports for discretionary cargo – and the associated international trade related jobs – has continued to threaten the Port of Long Beach’s market share, port staff said.
Harbor Commissioner Rich Dines said the incentives are timely. “The truth is, big ships are calling now; they’re coming today,” he said, noting that the massive MSC “Fabiola” docked at the Long Beach port in March before leaving on its route for the Port of Oakland. Another large ship came to Long Beach a few months later.
Meanwhile, the wharfage incentive program rewards ocean carriers with a $10 incentive for every additional cargo container they move by rail through Long Beach between August 1, 2012, and July 31, 2013. The incentive is designed to encourage carriers to ferry more cargo through Long Beach and increase the use of rail, which port officials consider less polluting than trucks, on a per-container basis.

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