Dive Brief:

• The Port of Long Beach will get an $870 million upgrade to improve off-dock rail facilities in the coming decades, according to American Shipper. 
• The project aims to increase rail capacity at the port from 2 million to 4.7 million TEUs annually while also raising the amount of containerized cargo leaving the port by rail from 28% to 35%. Each train can replace 750 truck trips.
• The new project will absorb the current rail yard along with the port’s North Harbor area, covering 180 acres total. 

Dive Insight:

Construction of the new facility will start in 2024 and will be completed in several stages stretching to 2032. The new facility will include:

• Five new 10,000-foot arrival/departure tracks to allow for longer trains and more cost-efficiency for operators.
• 73,000 more feet of storage capacity to reduce wait time for containers at terminals.
• New servicing facility for refueling, service and crew-swapping traffic off of the main rails.

According to American Shipper, the project will decrease emissions from truck traffic and set the port on a course toward its long-term goal of depending on rail to move half the port's cargo in and out. 

Port stockholders urge that these upgrades are essential to keep the port competitive. 

"Cargo volumes have been on the decline at the Port of Long Beach for a few months, caused by shifts in shipper alliances, which are consolidating shipments said Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero in a statement earlier this month.

Tariffs between the U.S. and China, however, appear "to have helped increase traffic, as shippers act to beat duties imposed on goods this summer." 

The port is expected to break it's all time record for container volume this year.