Port of Oakland unveils five-year plan

The Port of Oakland on Monday released a plan for the next five years, dubbed “Growth with care,” that envisions more jobs and economic stimulus, as well as 8 percent more containerized cargo volume in Oakland by 2022.    The Port of Oakland on Monday released a plan for the next five years that calls for 8 percent more containerized cargo volume in Oakland by 2022.
   The California port, which handled 2.4 million TEU in 2017, expects to be handling 2.6 million TEU in five years.
   Annual passenger traffic at the agency’s Oakland International Airport should increase 12-20 percent to between 14 million and 15 million passengers.
   Both numbers would be all-time highs for Oakland.
   The port authority said its “Growth with Care” plan envisions more jobs and economic stimulus.
   “We can grow, but we want our neighbors to grow with us,” Port of Oakland Executive Director Chris Lytle said in a preamble to the 21-page strategic document. “We must conduct ourselves in the public interest for the public good.”
   The plan envisions cargo growth from two capital projects at the seaport.
   The first is a 283,000-square-foot refrigerated distribution center called Cool Port Oakland that opens this summer.
   Another 440,000-square-foot distribution center is planned at a nearby Seaport Logistics Complex.
   At the airport, Oakland’s growth strategy is predicated on more flights – whether domestic or international. Target destinations over the next five years include New York; Boston; Washington, D.C.; Asia; Canada; and South America.
   The agency’s third business – commercial real estate – will concentrate on maintaining high occupancy rates and supporting residential development planned in the port’s Jack London Square neighborhood.
   The plan also calls for further reductions in diesel particulate emissions from trucks and ports.
   According to port data, truck emissions are down 98 percent since 2009, while vessel emissions have declined 76 percent. The strategic plan commits the port to an overall reduction of 85 percent by 2020.
   Despite increased cargo volumes, the port expects to achieve that by having more ships “cold iron,” or use shore-based electricity rather than relying on their ship engines while at berth. It is also planning a program for near-zero and zero emissions equipment at the port.
   Other goals mentioned in the five-year plan include:
     • Obtaining a container service that makes Oakland a first port of call;
     • Promoting new transload and refrigerated cargo capabilities, with the goal of increasing the discretionary intermodal cargo it handles to 15 percent, growing refrigerated exports by 10 percent and imports by 5 percent, and extending its market efforts to Western grain and Midwest frozen meat exporters;
     • Maximizing Oakland’s participation in newly permitted rice exports to China;
     • Recapturing cargo, especially the Utah and Colorado markets, and continuing to market its services beyond Northern and Central California;
     • And exploring bulk and breakbulk cargo opportunities.