Long Beach weighs intermodal incentives
The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners will next week consider a package of incentives aimed at retaining international trade business and attracting additional cargo to the port, which has seen cargo volume decline dramatically the past few months.
The port’s staff is recommending a 10 percent reduction for rail transport of existing customers’ intermodal, or non-local, cargo, an incentive that would reduce costs by about $4 to $6 per container unit. Additionally, the port will try to attract new intermodal cargo by rewarding ocean carriers with a $20 to $40 incentive for each unit that surpasses the past year’s volume.
The port’s aim is to stay relevant as an entry point for intermodal cargo that is ultimately headed for inland U.S. destinations. About half of the Southern California ports’ volume is from intermodal traffic.
“When cargo decreases at the Port of Long Beach, local jobs go with it,” port Executive Director Richard Steinke said in a statement. “This package is aimed at keeping the jobs here in Long Beach and throughout the region. Nine times out of 10, shippers will use Southern California ports for cargo with local destinations. But the discretionary cargo can easily be shifted to other ports across the country. We need to do everything we can to ensure that cargo and jobs stay right here, in and around Long Beach.”
The port said the volume created by intermodal cargo is also less taxing environmentally since it overwhelmingly moves by on-dock rail to inland U.S. points — meaning that no drayage is required.
The port board will consider the proposal at their weekly meeting Monday.