APL commits to Oakland for 15 years, maybe more

APL commits to Oakland for 15 years, maybe more    Singapore-based ocean carrier APL on Wednesday announced an agreement to keep its vessels calling at the Port of Oakland for decades to come.
   Executives at APL and the Port of Oakland finalized a 15-year lease extension for APL's Middle Harbor Terminal in Oakland. With two subsequent five-year options, the agreement could last a quarter century.
   'Oakland and Middle Harbor Terminal are critical to the growth of U.S. trade with Asia,' John Bowe, president of the Americas region for APL, said in a statement. 'I'm proud that we'll be part of that growth for a long time.'
   The lease signing is APL's second major long-term commitment to the City of Oakland in the past year. In 2005 APL signed a 10-year lease extension for its downtown office space at 1111 Broadway.
   APL opened Middle Harbor Terminal in 1974.    As part of its new lease agreement, the Port of Oakland will renovate the terminal over the next three years, including modernizing the terminal to accommodate technology upgrades and improved efficiency. The improvements are expected to increase annual container handling capacity from 170,000 lifts to 460,000 lifts.
   Middle Harbor Terminal is one of three major marine terminals managed by APL on the U.S. West Coast — the others are in Los Angeles and Seattle. The Oakland terminal employs up to 200 longshore workers a day and processes about 239,000 cargo containers annually laden with cargo valued at more than $5 billion, APL said.