Eureka - The Victorian Seaport?
Of cruise ships and other fishiness
November 13, 2008
The Humboldt Bay Harbor Commission is so excited about the latest Marine Terminal plan that it’s holding a meeting to hear from the public — on Friday night.
Friday night? Sounds suspicious. Maybe they hope no one will come.
“When the Port of Humboldt Bay has only brought in one to two cruise ships per year over the past decade, it’s hard to imagine Eureka is suddenly going to become the next big thing for West Coast cruise ships.”
A real plan needs real numbers
The Times-Standard
Article Launched: 11/13/2008 01:33:12 AM PST
This Friday, the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District will take up for the second time a business plan by consultant TranSystems on how to make a proposed $36 million marine terminal pay.
And again, for the second time, the consultant used numbers that seem less based on reality than on arbitrary estimates based on what ports elsewhere are able to attract.
Not for the first time, the consultant depends too heavily on a gigantic spike in cruise ship traffic to make the project profitable. In the first version of the study, TranSystems estimated that the port would draw 43 cruise ships. In this revision, the consultant says 30 to 40.
When the Port of Humboldt Bay has only brought in one to two cruise ships per year over the past decade, it’s hard to imagine Eureka is suddenly going to become the next big thing for West Coast cruise ships.
Without some solid interest from real businesses and cruise lines, it appears less than wise to pursue doing the environmental analysis needed to build the terminal.
If, however, that interest can be secured, it’s certainly an effort that should come before the public for review, to see if such a project could yield real benefits for the community and the economy.
The harbor district should proceed cautiously and methodically while using real numbers — not vague and perhaps overly optimistic assumptions.
Final marine terminal report complete
The Times-Standard
Article Launched: 11/01/2008 01:16:20 AM PDT
A final business plan for turning the Redwood Dock in Samoa into a marine terminal is now available for review.
The plan can be viewed at the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District’s Web site, www.humboldtbay.org, or at the district’s office at 601 Startare Dr. on Woodley Island between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The district board will hear a presentation by consultant TranSystems on Nov. 14.
Written and oral comments on the first draft business plan were taken by the board at five meetings and over a 64-day comment period ending Aug. 28. At the Nov. 14 meeting, TranSystems will present an updated report providing additional information based upon the comments received.
At the conclusion of the presentation, the board will consider receiving and filing the business plan and directing district staff to proceed with the environmental review process.
The board meeting will be held at the Wharfinger Building in Eureka at 7 p.m.
“How much do we really want to play in this game? How much do we want to use this land for container shipping versus other uses?”
Puget Sound ports facing challenges
The U.S. economic slowdown has cut the demand for Asian imports, reducing container traffic, and competition from other West Coast ports is heating up.
By Drew DeSilver
Seattle Times business reporter
Like one grazing brontosaur after another, the giant cranes lined up at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma to pluck multicolored shipping containers from massive cargo ships. The steel containers, filled with everything from electronic gadgets to running shoes, are as likely to travel to Chicago as Chehalis; once they’re gone, hundreds more sitting in nearby yards will be loaded and shipped the other way, to Asia.
By year’s end, nearly 4 million TEUs of cargo will have moved through the ports of Seattle and Tacoma. (TEU stands for 20-foot-equivalent unit, a standard measurement of containerized cargo; one TEU can hold 43,500 apples, 8,928 frozen chickens or 616 Christmas trees.)
Together — which is how people in the shipping business often think of them — the two Puget Sound ports are the third-largest container center in North America, and the second-largest on the West Coast.
But the activity is deceiving. The two ports face both immediate and longer-term threats to their plum positions in West Coast shipping — and to the thousands of well-paying jobs each port directly and indirectly supports.
Grinding Out A New Trail
Re-sizing railroad track ballast saved money and natural resources.
By Richard Parrish — Construction Bulletin, 10/6/2008
It was difficult not to notice them. Monstrous pieces of equipment grinding up granite ballast made an incredible racket this past spring and summer as they moved slowly over an obsolete railroad bed between curtains of trees, brush, homes, businesses, and other buildings in the city of Wayzata, MN, a Lake Minnetonka community 20 miles west of Minneapolis.
Residents and passersby knew a big change was afoot, literally and figuratively. With the opening of this project, the Three Rivers Park District (TRPD) has a brand-new 13-mile, hard-surface trail that’s expected to draw upwards of 70,000 walkers, runners, bikers, and inline skaters annually.
Orders for new container ships have dried up as vessel charter rates and ocean freight rates tumble and volume growth slows on key liner trade routes.
Enquiries to shipbuilders about new tonnage have “hit the floor,” according to London-based Clarkson, the world’s biggest ship broker “With volumes and earnings stalling, owners’ taste for newbuilds has slowed right down.”
The collapse in orders, which has affected all ship sizes, follows five straight years of historically high deliveries. Only 179 container ships were contracted in the first eight months of this year, down 49 percent year-on-year, Clarkson reports. This compares with a record 566 contracts in 2005, 479 in 2006 and 530 in 2007.
“While the present downturn and the recession that might follow will hurt everybody, the ports of the U.S. West Coast will not recover so easily because their decline is part of a deeper malaise”
West Coast port volume drop likely to worsen in next decade, study says
Cargo volumes at West Coast ports will continue to decline because of higher intermodal transportation costs. That’s the latest forecast in a study conducted by Drewry Shipping Consultants, a United Kingdom-based maritime advisory firm.
The U.S. Pacific Coast will lose its leadership position in the import cargo market because it’s cheaper to transport goods via Gulf Coast and East Coast ports, according to the study.
The “complacency of inland transport providers,” especially U.S. railroads, is driving the shift, the study claims. Although railroads continue to invest in infrastructure, the nation’s rail system is faced with a tightening market and rising demand.
“Railroads have chosen to up their prices rather than invest in significantly more capacity, in the mistaken belief that they had a captive market,” said Drewry Supply Chain Advisors’ Philip Damas in a statement.
The West Coast cargo decline likely will intensify during the next decade, with intermodal costs continuing to rise and all-water costs continuing to fall, the study predicts.
And: Changes threaten US intermodal route: Report
After years of dominating the United States maritime trade, the intermodal route connecting the major West Coast ports with interior regions is coming under threat, according to a logistics white paper published by Drewry Supply Chain Advisors.
While the recent decline of containerized imports through West Coast ports looks like the natural result of the U.S. economic slowdown, the white paper argues that these changes are structural and long-term.
The white paper, “U.S. Intermodal Today and Tomorrow,” says that several factors have combined to undermine the position of America’s Pacific Coast ports, not least of which is the complacency of the U.S. railroads.
For many destinations in the eastern U.S., the route via the West Coast ports is now much more expensive than the route via East Coast and Gulf Coast ports.
“Our primary purpose is to attract business from Prince Rupert and Savannah”
L.A. Considers $10 Incentive Plan; Long Beach Not Happy
10/26/2008
The Port of Los Angeles is contemplating a short-term incentive program to pay tenants $10 for every new TEU they bring to the port by either adding a new service or luring an existing service from another West Coast port. Needless to say, Port of Long Beach reaction to the proposal was not positive.
Port of Los Angeles staff say the program would run through Dec. 31, 2009 and could capture an estimated 350,000 more TEUs for the Port of L.A. If successful, the cost would be $3.5 million; the net gain would be about $9.5 million.
The program likely would divert discretionary cargo from West Coast competitors, including the Port of Long Beach - the neighbor with whom the L.A. port has worked so closely to advance sweeping clean air environmental measures. A cornerstone of those measures - included in their joint Clean Air Action Plan - has been for the ports to act in a manner that gives neither an economic edge.
That goodwill - at times strained due to varying approaches and key differences in the two clean truck programs - could be jeopardized by L.A.’s proposed marketing incentive program. Viewed by L.A. as a smart way to attract business during tough economic times, the proposal has been likened by others to poaching by the port that already has the nation’s highest cargo volumes.
At the very least, the proposal is a reminder that the L.A. and Long Beach ports are fierce competitors, along with every other West Coast port.
“Our primary purpose is to attract business from Prince Rupert and Savannah,” said Los Angeles Harbor Commission President S. David Freeman. “The thrust of this story is not the impact on other ports, but L.A. wants your business.”
Consultant: Rails will aid port’s success
By Alexander Rich, Staff Writer
Friday, October 17, 2008 | 3 comment(s)
COOS BAY — Oregon International Port of Coos Bay officials don’t think the idled Coos Bay rail line is worth much, but they know it’s valuable for their future.
At a port commission meeting Thursday, consultants from Don Breazeale and Associates suggested Coos Bay could become the most competitive port on the West Coast — as long as it has rail service.
“We have to have a railroad to make that work,” said Jack Finholm, senior associate. “Access and egress is pretty difficult without the railroad.”
At the port’s request, Finholm and company president Don Breazeale met with 14 companies who deal with transpacific trade. Of those companies — such as Cosco, Evergreen and “K” Line — Breazeale said 85 percent felt the port should take over the railroad.
The consultants said there are many advantages to Coos Bay, including low-cost land, less congestion than Los Angeles and a shorter transit from Asian markets compared to Southern Californian ports.
That said, there are no guarantees businesses would come to the area, especially considering the aggressive sales and marketing organizations in California and Washington ports, Breazeale said. He recommended the port undertake a professional sales and marketing effort of its own to attract commodity, auto and, eventually, container ships.
But first, the port needs to resolve the rail line issue.
“The rail has got to be the answer,” Breazeale said. Read the rest of this entry »
“In the past year, imports through Long Beach and Los Angeles are down nearly 10 percent as the national economy slows and consumers buy less.”
Rising global wages may cut imports, add U.S jobs
TRADE: Economist thinks trend will end double-digit growth at West Coast ports as manufacturers return.
By Kristopher Hanson, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 10/06/2008 12:00:00 AM PDT
Has Southern California experienced its last major surge in international trade?
With energy costs rising, the global economy losing steam and U.S. exports forecast to begin a long, slow decline in coming months, the days of regular double-digit growth in volume through West Coast ports may be history.
Under a scenario advanced by noted economist Paul Bingham, international trade is poised to undergo a paradigm shift in coming years, shaped by rising energy prices and growing wage rates in Asia.
According to Bingham, these factors may eventually offset much of the savings importers now enjoy by moving manufacturing and production overseas.
And if the trend holds, manufacturers could move production closer to end markets to save on higher shipping and production costs, leading to a long-term softening in the volume of imports through trade gateways like Long Beach and Los Angeles.
Evergreen Pulp wants reduction of workforce and wages!
Kind of shocking news for most, but not for the workforce. We have seen the company cut back on small items like linen service to the purchasing of essential materials such as wood chips. Evergreen seems to have a cash flow problem.
Our parent company Lee & Man Paper has went from a 52 week high of $37.00 a share to as low as $3.58 a share on the Hong Kong stock exchange. They had plant closures due to theBejing Olympics, and now the pulp market has went soft as well.
Locally, our union workers have been asked to take a 15% reduction in wages and to be prepared for temporary closures with layoffs of production workers. Along with this, the company has announced a reduction in hourly staff from 165 to 145. Read the rest of this entry »
CN sweetens pot for rail merger
Canadian railway raises Chicago-area bid, but critics remain
By Richard Wronski | Chicago Tribune reporter
October 2, 2008
Canadian National Railway pledged at least $60 million Wednesday to make improvements in its bid to reroute freight traffic through unsympathetic suburbs, but the money won’t begin to cover the cost of 15 overpasses and underpasses that critics say might be needed.
In its bid to buy the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway, CN previously had offered $40 million to help communities along the line cope with traffic delays, noise and other problems caused by increased trains.
But even CN’s sweetened offer won’t go far when it comes to constructing overpasses and underpasses in a dozen communities that a federal report warns would face significant traffic delays if the purchase is approved. Read the rest of this entry »
U.S. Railroads Index Falls Most Since 1989 on Economy (Update3)
By Angela Greiling Keane
Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) – Norfolk Southern Corp. paced declines among U.S. railroads, dragging a benchmark index to the biggest intraday drop in 19 years on concern that falling factory orders and commodity prices herald a drop in freight volume.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Railroads Index, consisting of the four largest U.S. carriers, plunged 10 percent, the most ever based on Bloomberg data going back to Sept. 11, 1989. Read the rest of this entry »
“Novato argued that freight trains would bring traffic problems, safety hazards and noise in the city.”
Novato council delays decision on train noise deal
Mark Prado
Article Launched: 10/01/2008 10:55:08 PM PDT
The Novato City Council delayed a decision on a settlement with the North Coast Railroad Authority addressing “quiet zones” at railroad crossings and the need for an environmental impact report.
The City Council held a special meeting on the issue Wednesday night at the police station.
Last year Novato filed a lawsuit saying the rail authority - which wants to revive freight service - should halt work repairing and upgrading its tracks until it completes an environmental review of its 316-mile rail plan, which would bring train traffic to the city.
Novato believed that review would lead to a limit on the number of trains and hours of operation as well as requirements that so-called quiet zones be installed at crossings. Quiet zones involve extensive safety measures that permit trains to roll through crossings without sounding their horns.
Novato argued that freight trains would bring traffic problems, safety hazards and noise in the city. Read the rest of this entry »
“If you are someone who is sitting down with a spreadsheet, and looking at how many containers will come this year, that’s going to push this back a bit,”
Transport The U.S. financial crisis could spell trouble for the Atlantic Gateway project
Ben Shingler
Telegraph-Journal
FREDERICTON - The deepening financial crisis and looming recession in the United States may hold up plans for the Maritimes to become a transatlantic shipping gateway, economists say.
Workers at Ceres watch a container being loaded aboard the Hong Kong Express in Halifax Thursday. Halifax handles about half a million containers a year, but the city’s two terminals have the potential to handle 1.4 million containers, nearly three times that amount.
Experts have long predicted an increase in global trade could lead to a doubling of shipments to North America over the next 15 years, from approximately 50 million containers annually to 100 million.
The log-jam of container traffic at popular west coast ports presented Halifax with an opportunity to grab a slice of the growing shipping market.
Many hoped the Port of Halifax, and the Maritime region as a whole, could become a premier destination for Asian goods travelling through the Suez Canal towards markets in eastern and central North America.
But David Chaundy, senior economist with the Halifax-based Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, said much of the bottlenecking at Pacific Coast ports has already been remedied by upgrading infrastructure. Read the rest of this entry »
Cold Storage: Interest In Port Facility Rises As Temperature Drops
Published: October 1, 2008
By Scott Graves
Pilot staff writer
The cold storage facility at the Port of Brookings Harbor on Monday was at minus 10 degrees and filling up fast as word of its renewed operation spread up and down the West Coast.
“We’re getting a much better response than I thought we would,” said Ted Fitzgerald, interim port manager.
That’s good news for a port struggling to raise revenue to pay off its massive debt. The port commission voted in September to turn its cold storage facility back on in an effort to make money. The $1.3 million facility was closed in 2004 after drawing nary a customer.
That changed this year when the closest cold storage facility, in Eureka, Calif., was closed down. A similar facility at the Crescent City Port closed years ago. Brookings port officials saw the closing of the Eureka facility as an opportunity to reclaim business it had lost to the other ports.
“We just don’t believe a local jurisdiction can be given the authority to enforce such a rule.”
Ocean cargo: The Federal Maritime Commission to revisit “Clean Trucks” issue today
Patrick Burnson, Executive Editor — Logistics Management, 9/24/2008
WASHINGTON—Closed-door deliberations on the Los Angeles-Long Beach Ports Terminals Agreement will take place during a portion of a Federal Maritime Commission’s (FMC) meeting today. While details were not disclosed by FMC spokesmen, shippers suspect that commissioners may share their concern about escalating costs associated with the implementation of the port’s “clean trucks” program slated to being next month.
Last week, the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL) joined the American Trucking Associations (ATA) in seeking legal action to stop the October 1 implementation.
“The FMC may also be evaluating the merits of this plan and its impact on shippers,” said NITL executive director, Peter Gatti in an interview. “We can already see a shift in shipping and sourcing strategies coming as a consequence of this action.”
Earlier this month, the FMC voted 2-1 to order additional information from the ports on the proposed plan.
According to Gatti, U.S. west coast shippers are already being “hit hard” by California state-mandated container fees and are resisting another layer of expense associated with this program.
“And no one is against the idea of using cleaner and more fuel-efficient vehicles,” he said. “Both the NITL and the ATA support the introduction of newer trucks in the drayage operations. We just don’t believe a local jurisdiction can be given the authority to enforce such a rule. It’s a complete violation of federal law.”
The port’s argument that its “clean trucks” program banning independent owner-operators would result in a safer and more secure waterfront is also without merit, said Gatti.
“Shippers know that this is really about money,” he said. “And if the costs of doing business in Southern California becomes too great, they will find other ports to do business with.”
“It would seem that the district wants the public out of the loop when receiving controversial reports.”
Dear Editor,
The last Harbor Commission meeting was on Sept. 11. Did you know the agenda? I didn’t either, except at the last minute. I’m on their e-mail list. I usually get plenty of time to read the agenda, sometimes weeks in advance. This time, I was received the notice at 10:05 on the morning of the day of the meeting.
This last meeting was very important. Allan Hemphill, chairman of the North Coast Railroad Authority, gave a status report on the NCRA and discussed and answer questions about the railroad. We all want to know about the death/existence of the railroad. Having a working railroad is necessary for the industrialized port.
Hemphill basically said, the port has to come in first. No rail until the deep-water port is built. The problem, of course, is that no one will build a port unless the rail is there first.
Previous meetings have been packed with the majority of people commenting against the industrialized port.
Because public notice was not given according to practice, a large crowd was not expected and so the venue was Woodley Island. It seems obvious that the Harbor District did not want a large turnout.
Some clerical error in noticing the community or some dirty trick to ensure a low public turnout?
It would seem that the district wants the public out of the loop when receiving controversial reports.
What will the district pull out of its hat next? A port, a railroad or just a rabbit?
Jessica Puccinelli
Fortuna
“… we have no intention of being enslaved by railroads”
Railroad rumble
Freight traffic would soar in some places and drop in others if Canadian National deal OKd
By Richard Wronski Tribune Reporter
September 14, 2008
The Canadian National Railway Co.’s plan to reroute freight train traffic through Chicago’s outlying suburbs has generated a locomotive-size controversy.
Opponents say the plan raises concerns about safety, traffic and pollution, while CN and experts say diverting freight trains around Chicago’s congested rail corridor will benefit business and the economy.
Thousands of residents have turned out at Chicago-area hearings to voice concerns about CN’s $300 million plan to acquire the lightly used Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway and transform it into what has been described as a rail superhighway.
Freight traffic could quadruple in some communities but significantly decrease in others. The U.S. Surface Transportation Board is expected to rule on the sale as early as December.
Here’s a look at some who favor the deal or oppose it—and why.
IF THE DEAL IS APPROVED, HERE’S WHO WOULD LOSE …
Frankfort
Freight trains would increase from six to 28 a day along the EJ&E tracks that cut through Frankfort. Marc Steinman, whose home is about 100 feet from the tracks, says: “Taking a transportation-related problem and moving it from one area to another doesn’t solve it. It just moves it.”
Barrington School District 220
The district’s 9,200 students from kindergarten to 12th grade ride buses that cross the EJ&E tracks 376 times a day, said Supt. Tom Leonard. “It’s going to make traffic in town very difficult, and obviously it’s going to make traffic for kids who are on buses very problematic,” Leonard said.
Oak Terrace subdivision
The 160-home subdivision borders the EJ&E tracks and Illinois Highway 83 near Mundelein in unincorporated Lake County. Residents such as Cindy Murray complain that motorists use residential streets to avoid the crossing at Illinois 83 when freight trains block traffic. “I see more accidents, more injuries [happening],” Murray said.
West Chicago
The city, originally known as Junction, is reputed to be the first Illinois community created as the result of railroads. Under the CN plan, trains on the EJ&E line through town will increase from about 10 to more than 31 a day. “West Chicago is a railroad town, but we have no intention of being enslaved by railroads,” Mayor Mike Kwasman said.
TRAC Coalition
“All of us need to keep the pressure on the [transportation board],” said Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner, co-chairman of the Regional Answer to Canadian National, a coalition of suburban leaders from Lake, Cook, McHenry, Kane, DuPage and Will Counties, and northwest Indiana opposed to the CN deal.
Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, Barrington
The additional train traffic in the Barrington area will delay ambulances, hospital officials say. Medical Director Joseph Giangrasso said: “It’s very simple: If you cannot get the patient to the hospital that could conduct their treatment, the patient will suffer. In emergency medicine, that usually means they die.”
“I feel like we’re up against a giant. For them it’s all about money.”
Leaders hope to derail EJ&E plan
September 14, 2008 Recommend
BY SUSAN DEMAR LAFFERTY, Staff Writer
If the people don’t want more trains coming through town, it’s up to them to do something about it. At a New Lenox rally to oppose Canadian National Railroad’s plan to purchase the Elgin Joliet & Eastern tracks and run freight trains all day long, residents were told they have one last chance to write letters, make phone calls and voice their opinions. The deadline to submit comments is Sept. 30.
Residents and officials are hoping that if the local motion is powerful enough it will throw CN off the EJ&E tracks.
“We need you to speak louder and clearer than the train whistles. We need you to move faster than a freight train. And, we need you to do it now,” said Mokena Mayor Joe Werner, who joined New Lenox, Frankfort and Will County officials in firing up a packed auditorium at Lincoln-Way Central High School Wednesday night to oppose the foreign rail company.
“Is there any benefit to us at all?” one man asked about CN’s proposal to operate 28 freight trains per day through the Lincoln-Way communities.
“Absolutely not,” said New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann.
“The first issue that needs to be addressed will be economic feasibility”
By CERENA JOHNSON, The Eureka Reporter
Published: Sep 12 2008, 11:35 PM · Updated: Sep 13 2008, 1:02 AM
Discussion returned to the future of the railroad at Thursday’s Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District meeting.
North Coast Railroad Authority Chairman Allan Hemphill provided the board with an update on current projects.
Currently, the NCRA is focused on reconstruction of the southern end of the line, with a $70 million reconstruction geared toward signals work, restoration of levees in Shellville and bridge reconstruction, Hemphill said.
As the harbor district has yet to reach a final decision on the Redwood Marine Terminal Project, Hemphill said there is “not much of a place to table” for the NCRA.
Once a decision is reached, Hemphill said, “we are required by staff to respond to that.”
The proposed marine terminal project includes construction of a multipurpose berth and long-term expansion dependent on operation of the railroad.
The way the process is set up, Hemphill said several issues need to be addressed.
“The first issue that needs to be addressed will be economic feasibility,” Hemphill said, along with assessing whether there is a sufficient traffic base.
Hemphill also said environmental issues need to be addressed in order to handle that traffic — in the case of the Eel River canyon, an environmental impact report — and said the question of where funds come from for restoration needs to be answered.
“We’re waiting for something to respond to,” he said.
Two years ago, the NCRA began the process of assessing the cost of fixing the canyon, starting an environmental review process and engaging an engineering company to do photo mapping to determine where problematic areas are, as well as a geo-tech study.
That is now in the final stages, Hemphill said, after which it will be delivered to the NCRA board and made available to the harbor district and public.
“I think it will finally answer some of the questions that have been hanging out there,” Hemphill said.
The harbor district board also continued discussion of the Goldman Sachs negotiations.
“We have not accepted their proposal because it does not cover items the board feel are necessary,” said Commissioner Roy Curless.
Curless said a lot of negotiating remains to be done between the board’s committee and Goldman Sachs.
“They’ve kind of come dead in the water,” Curless said.
The next step will be for Goldman Sachs to come up with a proposal that is accepted by the committee, which the committee would then bring to the board for fine-tuning, he said.
“The total number of loaded containers, import containers and empty containers were all down - by 6.7 percent, 15.3 percent and 46.7 percent, respectively.”
Alameda Corridor Numbers Plummet; Diversion Likely Cause
The Cunningham Report
08/31/2008
The number of trains running along the Alameda Corridor and the number of containers those trains carried were down by double-digit percentages during the first six months of 2008, according to new figures from the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority.
The numbers speak for themselves:
“What this does indicate is that there has been a fall-off in terms of the number of trains that are carrying cargo, which represents a loss in discretionary cargo to these ports in the first six months of this year,” ACTA CEO John Doherty told the Long Beach Harbor Commission last week. “Typically we trend exactly as the ports (of Long Beach and Los Angeles) do - if the ports are off three percent a year, the Alameda Corridor is off three percent a year. But the ports are now off 7.7 percent combined … and the Alameda Corridor is off 11 percent. So this is a little indicator that we’re losing discretionary cargo,” he said.
It’s an important indicator.
Everybody knows that shippers have to use the Southern California ports for the cargo destined for Southern California. The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports would have to become outrageously expensive before it would make sense to ship cargo through Oakland or Mexico and truck it to Southern California. But the discretionary cargo - goods headed across the Continental Divide to the American heartland - can be easily diverted to other ports.
“The port had planned to lease empty space at Berths 33 and 34 for container traffic but the sluggish market has forced the port to shop for more diverse tenants.”
Oakland May Use Container Space To Store Aggregate
The Cunningham Report
08/31/2008
The economic downturn and sluggish container shipping business has compelled the Port of Oakland to consider leasing vacant wharf space and marine facilities in the Port’s outer harbor to store construction aggregate.
The port’s Maritime Committee Thursday voted to ask the Port Board to authorize Executive Director Omar Benjamin to enter into a negotiating agreement with Teichart Materials of Sacramento to lease 12.5 acres in Berth 33. The agreement would give Teichart six months beginning in November to conduct due diligence and prepare an operating plan for a five to ten-year lease for an estimated $13.8 million.
Teichart is considering leasing the berth space for handling bulk construction materials, including crushed rock and sand. The site is currently being used for the TraPac Terminal construction project and won’t be available for another 18 months.
The port had planned to lease empty space at Berths 33 and 34 for container traffic but the sluggish market has force the port to shop for more diverse tenants. The Port’s long-term plan is to restrict the outer harbor area for containers.
Commissioner Margaret Gordon argued that Oakland should follow the Port of San Francisco example and conduct “smart planning” for cluster areas of similar industries, such as asphalt, cement, and recycling operations.
“The whole idea of creating a relief point in Mexico was based on LA/Long Beach being maxed out. That’s not going to happen now.”
Ocean cargo: Proposed Mexican seaport gets new attention
Patrick Burnson, Executive Editor — Logistics Management, 9/2/2008
LOS ANGELES—Shippers tired of congestion and slow downs at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach were given some promising news last week about an alternative gateway on the Pacific Rim.
“The Punta Colonet container ship project will transform and revolutionize the productivity of the country,” said Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon last week. He added that plans for the seaport 150 miles south of Ensenada in Baja Mexico would be significant rival to its North American rivals.
With bidding now open for a 45-year concession to operate the port and rail line to the U.S. border, Mexico plans to have Punta Colonet ready for business by 2012.
Some industry analysts are skeptical, however.
“We understand that some of the initial bidders have already pulled out,” said Dr. John Martin, president of Martin Associates, an economic consulting firm specializing in international trade. “And there’s reason to believe that the project is not as attractive to some investors as it might have been a couple of years ago.”
According to Martin, ocean carrier redeployments to an “all-water” service linking Asia to the EU via the Suez Canal has meant less volume for the U.S. West Coast recently.
“This means more cargo is sourced through U.S. East Coast ports,” he said, “and we see this trend continuing. The whole idea of creating a relief point in Mexico was based on LA/Long Beach being maxed out. That’s not going to happen now.”
Industry analysts have also noted that the Canadian port of Prince Rupert is not attracting the massive shipments projected before it enlarged its operations a few years ago.
“The West Coast longshore labor situation has stabilized, too,” noted Martin, “and shippers are not so worried about a long-term shutdown here again.
“Incoming goods are down so much that the twin ports are on pace to record their second straight year of declines in overall international trade.”
Exports jump at L.A., Long Beach ports but imports falter
By Ronald D. White, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 2, 2008
Forget scrap paper, plastics, scrap metal and the bounty of agricultural harvests. Until this year, the biggest U.S. contribution to the international supply chain were vast mountains of empty cargo containers outbound on ships to China, where they were quickly refilled with the imports on which American consumers have come to depend.
“For the longest time, we used to joke that our biggest export was our fine California air,” said Eric Caris, assistant director of marketing for the Port of Los Angeles. “The good news for us in 2008 is that we are finally exporting more loaded containers than empties.”
From January to July, exports jumped about 23% compared with the same period of 2007 at the nation’s two busiest container ports, Los Angeles and Long Beach. But the export boom overshadows a deep pullback in U.S. consumer spending.
Imports are down so much that the twin ports are on pace to record their second straight year of declines in overall international trade. That hasn’t happened in at least 30 years, despite a handful of national recessions along the way.
The slowdown has hit almost every harbor in North America.
Of the 10 busiest seaports that are tracked every month by the nation’s largest retailers for signs of congestion, only two are doing more business than last year. One is Vancouver, Canada, which is serving an economy much healthier than that of the U.S. The other is Savannah, Ga., which is winning market share as the first big East Coast stop for cargo headed north from the Panama Canal.
Weakness in the U.S. economy is mirrored on the docks, said Paul Bingham, managing director of trade and transportation markets for the Washington-based forecasting firm Global Insight.
“You can find all of the economic symptoms of the downturn in these numbers,” Bingham said. “Unfortunately, this is a bad-news story. We haven’t even found the bottom yet.”
Bingham and other economists even can glean from the port statistics the effect of the Bush administration’s economic stimulus checks, which was minor. Many observers hoped for a turnaround in the second half of 2008, but now they don’t see one happening before the second quarter of 2009.
At the five top West Coast ports — Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma, Wash. — imports were down by as much as 13% through the first seven months of the year.
Chamber of Commerce to host coastal panel
The Greater Eureka Chamber of Commerce will welcome members of the California Coastal Commission following the chamber’s Sept. 10 meeting in Eureka. A reception for the members of the commission has been scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. and will be held at Eureka’s Avalon Restaurant and Bar.
Hors d’oeuvres will be prepared by Avalon’s staff, and an oyster barbecue will be grilled by Greg Dale of Coast Seafoods. The attire for the evening is business casual and the cost per person is $20 for chamber members and $30 for non-members.
The purpose of the reception is to welcome the commissioners and staff in order to give them an opportunity to meet with local community leaders. It is an opportunity to help the members of this commission become better acquainted with issues affecting the North Coast area.
Reservations are recommended, as attendance will be limited. Payment must be received by Sept. 5. For more information or to make reservations, phone the Eureka Chamber of Commerce office at 707-442-3738.
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“Overnight, home values of 100,000 homeowners along the EJ&E will plummet”
Opponents of EJ & E sale march to Wednesday meeting
By Robert Channick
Special to the Chicago Tribune
9:25 PM CDT, August 27, 2008
Area residents turned out by the hundreds Wednesday in Barrington to voice opposition to the proposed purchase of a suburban railroad line.
More than 500 people—many carrying protest signs—marched to Barrington High School, where a public meeting on Canadian National Railway Co.’s proposed purchase of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway was held later in the day.
The marchers—many chanting, “Stop the trains”—tied up traffic.
“If we create enough of a traffic jam it will give people just a little taste of what’s ahead if CN gets approval,” said Linda Reinhard, who organized the march.
The march gathered participants as it proceeded for more than a mile along Lake Cook Road to the high school.
The public meeting was one in a series being held throughout the Chicago area to discuss the U.S. Surface Transportation Board’s draft environmental impact report on the proposed sale.
More than 1,000 people crowded into the school’s gymnasium, where a visibly upset Rep. Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.) told representatives of the federal board that the draft report underestimated the number of affected rail crossings that could be blocked.
“It gives new meaning to the word ‘railroad,’ ” he said.
Another critic, Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.), said as many as 40 suburban communities would be impacted. It would be unfair, she said, for U.S. taxpayers to pay for rail improvements that would financially benefit shareholders of the Montreal-based company.
Jeff Mangano of Lake Zurich, one of about 80 people who signed up to speak, said he worried about falling property values if the purchase were approved.
“Overnight, home values of 100,000 homeowners along the EJ&E will plummet,” he said.
“And what we found was a surprise, because no one expected that the contribution from ships of solid sulfur-rich particles called primary sulfate would be so high.”
Dirty Smoke from Ships Found to Degrade Air Quality in Coastal Cities
University of California, San Diego
August 18, 2008
By Kim McDonald
Ah, nothing like breathing clean coastal air, right? Think again.
Chemists at UC San Diego have measured for the first time the impact that dirty smoke from ships cruising at sea and generating electricity in port can have on the air quality of coastal cities.
The scientists report in this week’s early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the impact of dirty smoke from ships burning high-sulfur fuel can be substantial, on some days accounting for nearly one-half of the fine, sulfur-rich particulate matter in the air known to be hazardous to human health.
Their results have particular significance for the state of California, which will require, beginning next July, that all tankers, cargo and cruise ships sailing into a California port switch to more expensive, cleaner-burning fuels when they come within 24 miles of the coast. Similar international rules requiring clean-burning ship fuels are set to take effect in 2015.
While those regulations are intended to minimize the potential hazards dirty ship smoke may pose to human health and the environment—which some researchers have estimated may be responsible for as many as 60,000 deaths worldwide and a cost to the U.S. economy of $500 million a year—no one knows the actual impact of ship smoke. The reason is that air quality experts have been unable to quantify the specific contribution of ship smoke to the air pollution of coastal cities—until now.
“Shipping pollution is basically one of the last regulated or lightly regulated frontiers”
done
Ship Pollution Dirties New England Air
May 9, 2008
BOSTON (WBZ) ― The air quality near ocean waters isn’t nearly as healthy as New Englanders might think.
In fact, it can be downright harmful, which raises concerns about ship pollution.
Some exercise and an ocean breeze is a daily ritual for Bob Pasquale and Chris Koskella.
Their favorite spot is Castle Island where they see and feel the impact of the ships heading in and out of Boston Harbor.
“I can feel it in my breathing,” said Chris Koskella. “Some days when you come down in the area, my eyes water, and I sneeze.”
The shipping industry is booming. It’s up 10 percent in Boston Harbor this year, which is good news for the economy, but is bad news for the air quality.
“Shipping pollution is basically one of the last regulated or lightly regulated frontiers,” said David Marshall with Clean Air Task Force. “There are about 50,000 ocean-going ships around the world.”
Ships can weigh thousands of tons, and that takes a lot of power to move them across the waters.
These ships have extremely large diesel engines, some of which are the size of a municipal power plant. They also burn some of the dirtiest fuel on the planet. Read the rest of this entry »
An important message from David Gurney
David Gurney spoke at last week’s HBHRCD meeting
It is apparent that Humboldt Bay is about to be blindsided by oil and gas development.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has staked claim to a 136 sq. mi. area of ocean right outside the mouth of the Humboldt Bay. They also have permits for 68 square miles off the Mendocino Coast, and are apparently in negotiation with the Minerals Management Service to lease even more large tracts of ocean, just outside of these huge areas. These tracts correspond to offshore oil drilling zones, that were under negotiation for Oil and Gas Lease/Sale # 91 back in 1988.
PG&E does not need such huge areas of ocean to test wave energy devices, and instead has the potential to “site sit” these locations, until such a time that the leases can be converted to natural gas and oil drilling permits. It says so in their permit documents.
Also documented is the fact that P.G.& E. has approached as two companies as consultants on their wave energy projects : Black & Veatch and CH2M Hill. Both are world-wide conglomerates engaged in natural gas and oil development.
Furthermore, Goldman Sachs has offered to lease and develop the marine terminal of Humboldt Bay, supposedly for the benefit of commerce and tourism. But Goldman Sachs is heavily involved in speculation on oil futures, and is in fact one of the major players in such speculation, and thus could have a serious conflict of interest in what is best for the Bay and the citizens of Eureka.
I believe that Goldman Sachs, along with PG&E and their consultants have the potential to turn Humboldt Bay into a scene similar to Martinez in the East Bay, with refineries, natural gas processing facilities, cogeneration plants and storage tanks, not to mention tanker traffic.
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