Flourishing Pacific Rim trade sparks port rebirth; tonnage record makes Long Beach a premier cargo site.

Flourishing Pacific Rim trade sparks port rebirth 

Tonnage record makes Long Beach a premier cargo site

The Port of Long Beach continues to flourish, aided by rising commerce with Pacific Rim countries and the continued growth of the Southland economy.

A record 68.9 million metric revenue tons of cargo was handled by the port in fiscal year 1988-1989, an increase of 8.3 percent over the previous year. In the 1990 fiscal year the figure is expected to rise by 2.6 percent to 70.7 million.

By the year 2020 cargo handled throughout Long Beach harbor is predicted to increase to 220 million metric revenue tons, including 4.4 million containers and triple today's levels.

The port lies next to the Port of Los Angeles in the South Bay and already exceeds it in total tonnage, including crude oil and other liquid cargos. Still the Port of Los Angeles is normally ranked first in terms of commerce because it handles more of the general container cargo that is used as the principal measure of international commerce.

While there is more than enough business to serve both ports, the two compete over types of cargo and proprietary terminal operators, said Tom Underhill, the Port of Long Beach's acting director of trade development.

One of the Port of Los Angeles' former terminal operators, Hanjin Shipping of South Korea, is establishing a 55-acre container facility terminal in the Port of Long Beach, scheduled to open in November.

The two ports have, however, cooperated on numerous issues including a 2020 Plan study to guide development in the area, creation of an intermodal container transport facility, dredging and other infrastructure matters.

While the Port of Los Angeles is a competitor, with 66.3 million metric revenue tons in fiscal 1988-1989, fiercer competition comes from the Washington state ports of Seattle and Tacoma and other northwestern ports, Underhill said.

"Traditionally the higher volume of exports come out of Oakland and Portland," said Tom Teofilo, president of the Foreign Trade Association of Southern California and president of Long Beach-based Teofilo and Associates. "Los Angeles and Long Beach lead in volume in just about every category of import."

The growth of the port has proved key to the growth of the city of Long Beach. "Imports passing through and getting ships in and out create direct employment and indirect employment caused by buying fuel and provisions," said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. "Many companies and people also locate there to be close to the port."

It is estimated that one out of every 12 jobs in Long Beach is generated by the port. Some $39 billion in direct and indirect business revenues are generated annually by the manufacture, transportation, distribution and sale of imports and exports which pass through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to a joint port study.

Leading inbound commodities at the port, in order of importance, include bulk petroleum, electric machinery, plastic products, steel products and furniture. Leading outbound commodities, again in order of declining metric revenue tons, include bulk petroleum, bulk coke, chemicals, waste paper and bulk coal.

Keys to the port's success include the deepest water of any harbor in the nation, modern equipment, facilities served by three railroads, and the only dockside rail existing in Southern California.

While the general success of the port has led to accolades for the port's accomplishments, one area of concern for some shippers and cargo handlers has been leadership at the port.

In the past two years, two executive port directors have been pressured to resign and since June 1989 the top seat has been rotated every nine months among a triumverate of top executives.

"There is an uncertainty about the future in any entity in which the management is not clearly defined," said Bob Kleist, corporate advisor for Evergreen International, a major container ship operator based in Taiwan. "We are dealing with different people at different times about different things and that tends to make things unstable."

Board of Harbor Commissioners President Louise Duvall attributed the management changes to "a different philosophy of the board." She added: "I personally would want to have a permanent executive director appointed in time."

Another controversial area is the proposed diversion of $80 million of port money to fund an expansion of the Long Beach Convention Center. "There have been qualms about the private sector part of the maritime community diversion to non-port activities such as the convention center," said Jay Winter, executive secretary of Steamship Association of Southern California.

Despite those concerns, the port has been characterized as a seller's market whose power will only increase with the growth of Pacific Rim commerce.

One development spurring growth of the port is the rise of intermodal transportation whereby cargo is loaded onto railroad cars and taken across the farthest corners of the country after being offloaded at the ports. In 1988-1989 such commerce accounted for 40 percent of the port's boxed cargo. Many goods produced across the nation, conversely, pass through the port on their way to Pacific Rim countries.

To keep up with such demand, the port cooperated with the Port of Los Angeles to construct the 150-acre, $80-million Intermodal Container Transfer Facility which permits the transfer of truck goods.

Keeping up with increased demands on the port has led to the need for major expansions to the port including a $176 million upgrade in roads, bridges and facilities. The problem of congestion is particularly severe in road access to the port.

That problem will be addressed by a planned $500-million Consolidated Transportation Corridor, which will widen Alameda Street to a six-lane truck expressway, double-track the Southern Pacific San Pedro rail line to handle all port-related trains and build numerous grade separations by the year 2000.

The goals for the project are to reduce by half truck traffic using residential streets, eliminate hundreds of thousands of trucks from local freeways -- which average 1,600 trips weekly -- and decrease accidents and exhaust.

The port's six container terminals are fully occupied and expansion will be critical to keep up with expected demand for the port. Port officials estimate that 2,400 more acres of land will have to be added as well as 38 additional cargo terminals.

Two major expansions to the terminal are underway: A 147-acre addition to Pier J dredged from the sea floor, which is nearing completion, and the Hanjin Shipping terminal.