Port of Sacramento commission votes to dissolve governing board
The Sacramento-Yolo Port District Commission voted Monday to dissolve the four-government board that has run the Port of Sacramento since its opening in 1963, the Sacramento Bee reported.
The move could clear the way for a private operator to take charge of the struggling port, which is trying to transition from its reliance on exported timber to focus on growth in dimensional lumber from New Zealand and imported cement and aggregate, Port of Sacramento Director John Sulpizio told American Shipper in August. The Bee reported that the port's losses came primarily on imported bulk fertilizer and exported rice.
The port has lost more than $5 million the past five years amidst turf struggles over who has control of the port's governing board, Sulpizio said. The facility sits in two counties and two cities, and the four jurisdictions have haggled over how many representatives each government body gets, while rumors of bankruptcy persist.
The port is actively looking for a third party to take operational control of the docks — among the possible candidates is the Port of Oakland, which could be eyeing a short-sea shipping connection between the two ports.
The Bee also reported that a key component of the port's restructuring — a bulk cement facility in an area of the port that falls within West Sacramento boundaries — could face stiff opposition from residential neighborhoods. An environmental review of the terminal is due in October.