L.A. port approves TraPac Terminal lease

L.A. port approves TraPac Terminal lease    The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners last week approved a 30-year lease for the TraPac Inc. container terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, paving the way for completion of the facility's expansion.
   The five-year, $245 million TraPac expansion will deepen the waterside at Berths 144-147, upgrade about 50 additional acres of existing land to modern container handling backland standards, and construct a new on-dock rail facility. Founded in 1985, TraPac opened operations at the Port of Los Angeles in 1987.
   The port called the lease “a precedent-setting action that demonstrates the long-term commitment of TraPac and their parent company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. (MOL), to the Southern California market.”
   The expansion “will transform one of the most obsolete container terminals on the West Coast into a state-of-the-art facility by which TraPac will be able to implement cutting edge environmental mitigation technologies,” said Hideyuki Sadamatsu, president of TraPac.
   “The improvements to TraPac's terminal in the Port of Los Angeles will finally allow TraPac to compete on an even playing field with the other terminals in the San Pedro Bay and position our company to continue its leadership of efficient land use and container terminal operations in the most environmentally friendly manner possible.' he added.
   Efforts to reduce air emissions, greenhouse gas emissions and energy use will include:
   ' Use of alternative maritime power or “cold-ironing” for containerships that call at TraPac.
   ' Participation in the port's vessel speed reduction program to reduce emissions from ships transiting within 40 miles of the San Pedro Bay.
   ' Use of engines ensuring fuel efficiency level equivalent to that by using slide valves, to reduce emissions from their main engines.
   ' Use of clean yard tractors and equipment in the movement of cargo containers.
   ' Compliance with the clean trucks program to replace or retrofit port drayage trucks to meet 2007 EPA emission standards by 2012.