Oakland approves program to fund extended terminal hours

The $1.5 million program at the Port of Oakland will provide an incentive to terminals to stay open longer as they handle business relocated from Outer Harbor Terminal.    Port of Oakland commissioners on Thursday approved a $1.5 million program to assist container terminals with the expense of operating for extended hours to handle increased cargo volumes resulting from the decision by Outer Harbor Terminals (OHT), the joint venture of Ports America and Terminal Investment Limited, to shut down operations at the end of next month.
   OHT said last month it would end operations six years into a 50 year concession, then filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code.
   Shipping lines that formerly operated at Outer Harbor are relocating to other terminals in the Port of Oakland operated by SSA Terminals, Everport Terminal Services and TraPac in the Port of Oakland.
   Chris Lytle, executive director of the port, said “there is now a home for all the cargo that would be leaving Ports America,” though he said some negotiations are ongoing. The port is also negotiating with TraPac about taking over part of OHT.
   The port said the relocation by carriers to other terminals is expected to cause a sudden influx of traffic that will require modifications to current operations. Lytle said the program approved Thursday is designed to provide an incentive for terminals to stay open longer than standard 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday to Friday hours.
   The program will help fund up to five truck gates at night or over the weekend, said Lytle. The port will provide half the cost — up to $10,000 — to offset the cost of each extended gates. It will go on for 12 weeks, and staff will review the program after six weeks. If necessary, the program could be modified to fund more than five additional gates or increase funding.
   There will be no fee charged by the port to truckers or cargo owners for the extended hours.
   Port staff told commissioners it believes providing financial assistance for extended gates will help “kick start” routine implementation of extended gates and benefit cargo owners and drayage companies in the longer term and not just as business transitions to other terminals from the Outer Harbor.
   In return, the terminals must provide an extended gate operations plan and submit truck gate transactions data for normal and extended gate operations. The terminals must also ensure trucks have turn times of no more than 75 minutes during the extended hours to be eligible for the program.
   Last year, the four container terminals in Oakland, including OHT, announced plans for a program for extended gates on Saturday called “OakPass” that would be similar to the PierPass program in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach where shippers moving cargo in and out of terminals during peak hours would fund extended hours. The Federal Maritime Commission asked for additional information on those plans.
   Following the announcement by OHT that it would close its terminal, John Cushing, the president of OakPass and PierPass said that “at this time, OakPass is on hold due to the changing terminal circumstances at the Port of Oakland.”
   “Right now, the most important thing for us at the port is to insure an orderly efficient transition of this business out of Outer Harbor Terminal to the new terminals,” said Lytle. The terminal handled about a 20 percent of the Port of Oakland’s container volumes.
   “That’s the most important task for us right now. We don’t want any stumbling, any hiccups, we want that to go smoothly.”