Long Beach port keeps focus on capital improvement programs rolling out in next decade

The Port of Long Beach's 10-year capital improvement program will cost an estimated $2.3 billion from 2023 to 2032, by far the largest part of the port's ongoing budget costs

Port of Long Beach officials this week outlined updates on the port’s ambitious capital improvement program — including a caution that inflation was driving costs up –that is designed to bring more on-dock rail and cleaner technology to its operation.

“Obviously, we’ve been in a crisis here with regard to the supply chain and COVID disruptions,” said port Executive Director Mario Cordero.

But the port, he said, made the decision to “stay the course” on its 10-year capital improvement program, which will cost an estimated $2.3 billion from 2023 to 2032, by far the largest part of the port’s ongoing budget costs. Included in that are railways (making up the biggest segment at $1.5 billion) and other categories, such as terminal development, sewer and stormwater projects, port security, dredging and environmental projects.

Duane Kenagy, the port’s capital programs executive, and Tasha Higgins, assistant director for Program Management, gave updates on Monday, Feb. 14, at the regular Long Beach harbor commission meeting.

The program, they said, is the largest piece of the port’s annual budget and, looking ahead, will focus on expanding the port’s terminal and on-dock rail capacity, improving operational efficiency and working toward a zero-emissions goal by 2035.

The Pier B on-dock rail facility, still in the design phase, will directly connect to the Alameda Corridor and will be composed of several rail projects that link together. Construction is expected to begin in September 2023.

Bringing in five new arrival and departure tracks, the project will be designed to support up to 17 daily departures, more than doubling the current capacity by 2025. It will provide new jobs for rail and longshore workers, port officials said, but will also cut emissions by shifting cargo away from trucks.

In November, the port — the second busiest in the nation, behind the neighboring Port of Los Angeles — received a $52.3 million federal grant for the project’s construction.

The overall cost, however, stands at $1.547 billion. And costs are increasing from original baseline estimates because of inflation, Kenagy said. Those increases will be reflected in an updated capital program forecast expected this spring, he added.

The port’s 10-year capital program forecast is estimated at $2.3 billion.

Projected cost changes, Kenagy said, are being carefully tracked as the plans move forward to avoid any big surprises “at the end.”

Still, the benefits seem worth the costs, according to commissioners.

Commissioner Bonnie Lowenthal, for example, noted that “each train that’s assembled prevents 750 trucks from entering the freeway.”

But the answer to Lowenthal’s question about determining a precise health benefit of doing that is complicated, said Port of Long Beach Deputy Executive Director of Planning and Development Rick Cameron.

“It does take trucks off the road, so there is a positive effect in doing that,” he said, “but it’s the big (environmental) picture we need to highlight.”

The port’s Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility was approved in 2018 but won’t be finished for more than a decade.

The port also continues looking at cleaner train technology, such as battery, fuel cell and hybrid technologies.

The goal, Cordero said, is to eliminate trucks as much as possible over time as one way to address emissions.