Long Beach to spend $45.8 million on green terminal

Long Beach to spend $45.8 million on green terminal    The Port of Long Beach said this week its board of harbor commissioners has given preliminary approval to a major construction contract that will begin environmentally friendly improvements under the port’s “green lease” terminal agreements, including the addition of electrical shore-side power for docked ships.
   In May, the board approved a 20-year lease with International Transportation Service Inc., that calls for significant terminal improvements and equipment investments by the port and ITS to achieve a 90 percent reduction in air pollutants at ITS’s Pier G container cargo facility. The $45.8 million construction contract, conditionally approved Monday with Manson Construction Co. of San Pedro, will kick off the Pier G upgrades.
   “This is where we really start putting our money where our mouth is,” said James Hankla, harbor commission president. “We’ve asked a lot of our terminal customers with these new environmental agreements, and now we must do our part to upgrade facilities and provide the right infrastructure for cleaner, ‘greener’ operations.”
   Under the contract Manson Co. will begin building the necessary facilities to provide shore-side electricity, also known as “cold-ironing,” to visiting ships. Shore-side electricity enables ships to shut down their diesel engines while at berth significantly cutting emissions from burning bunker. Manson is tentatively scheduled to begin construction this fall and to complete its work by spring 2008.
   The entire Pier G redevelopment project, an eight-year project estimated at $686 million, will modernize the entire terminal with more efficient, environmentally friendly truck gates, rail yard and berths. The initial $45.8 million contract will, in addition to building electrical infrastructure, include construction of a deep-water berth at the south end of the pier and redevelopment of about 10 acres of land used for temporary cargo container storage.
   ITS is a subsidiary of Japan-based “K” Line, one of the world’s leading steamship lines. In addition to ITS, the Long Beach board has approved environmentally friendly leases with SSA Terminals/Matson Navigation Co., which leases a Pier C facility.