High on marine highway
Northern California ports gear up for short-sea shipping service.
By Eric Kulisch
The California ports of Stockton and West Sacramento on April 23 issued a joint solicitation for a third-party terminal operator to oversee and manage a new container-on-barge service.
The proposal is seen as an alternative to truck transportation between their inland locations and the Port of Oakland, and a means to fulfill a public policy goal to reduce interstate highway congestion and pollution.
The marine highway project is made possible by a $30 million grant from the U.S. Maritime Administration funded by the merit-based TIGER grant program established under the 2009 stimulus bill, as well as $3.2 million from regional air quality control boards interested in reducing vehicle emissions.
The short-sea shipping service is geared to moving agricultural exports from California's Central Valley and the Midwest to China and elsewhere in Asia, according to area port officials.
Barge transportation would permit the use of heavier loads that are restricted on highways, potentially saving shippers money because fewer containers would need to be transported.
| Lewicki |
Rice mills in the Sacramento area exported more than 28,000 TEUs last year and the containers, which can hold 100,000 to 120,000 tons, had to ship out about half to two-thirds full, Bill Lewicki, director of marketing for the Port of Stockton, said in an interview.
Other potential beneficiaries are large wineries that ship thousands of boxes each year, as well as meat packers that can deliver product to Stockton's cold storage facility for freezing, packaging and loading into reefer containers, he said.
Steel pipe and other heavy import commodities would also be able to take advantage of the marine corridor. Overall, hundreds of thousands of containers move in and out of the San Joaquin Valley each year.
Stockton is using $7.5 million of its $13 million portion of the grant to procure two Liebehr mobile harbor cranes for loading and unloading the barges.
The port will spend another $800,000 on demolishing some old structures to make room for a near-dock container yard, and add a 3,200-foot rail extension from the yard to complete a loop rail line around the complex that can handle large unit trains at Dock 19.
Stockton is served by both the Union Pacific and BNSF Railway.
The facility management firm will be responsible for contracting with a tug company to operate the service on the San Joaquin River, as well as arranging truck delivery and pickup for local distribution centers and production facilities.
Lewicki said the company will receive a favorable deal on the property lease and crane rental for the startup years, so it can hold down costs and make the service attractive for shippers. Annual rent for port property can reach $55,000 per acre, but may be discounted to $5,000 for the container-barge facility.
'As a port, we're going to do everything we can to help this operator be a success,' Lewicki said. 'We're not looking to make money on this. We're looking at it as a business development and job generator to bring new opportunities to this area.'
The two ports will share in purchasing barges. Lewicki said the ports have received money to build one barge but they can buy two late-model ones lying idle for almost the same price. Each barge can carry 350 containers.
The Port of West Sacramento said it plans to use its $8.5 million grant for a mobile harbor crane and to construct a new warehouse.
Service between Oakland and Stockton is expected to start by February 2012, with a connection to West Sacramento at a later date.