A more than decade-long plan to create an additional passenger cruise terminal in San Pedro’s Outer Harbor recently relaunched after being paused for about three years, a result of the coronavirus pandemic essentially shutting down the entire cruise industry.
Now, the Port of Los Angeles, with its cruise business rebounding, is pushing forward again to revisit the proposal.
A draft request for proposals to create the new center went out on Jan. 31, with written comments from the public due on March 3. It includes a plan to redevelop the existing World Cruise Center — at Swinford Street and Harbor Boulevard — on the Los Angeles waterfront in San Pedro.
The draft RFP seeks preliminary public comments to help inform the final request for proposals the port will eventually release.
“This cruise development initiative is critical to our business, our community and the LA Waterfront,” Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said in a written statement. “Each cruise ship that calls at the Port of Los Angeles generates more than $1 million into the local economy.”
The port logged 229 cruises leaving the Port of LA in 2022, Seroka said during his State of the Port address on Jan. 19, with just as many — “if not more” — expected this year.
The planned Outer Harbor Cruise Terminal will be at Berths 45-51, a site that offers panoramic views of the coastline and Catalina Island. The site includes 13 acres of backland, two existing wharves and 14 acres of associated off-site parking.
The new terminal, on San Pedro’s southern coastline, has been in the works for more than a decade, albeit with some public criticism. Critics in the past have said the project would block water views, negatively impact local boating traffic coming and going from the marina, and cause traffic congestion.
Yet, when a formal request for proposals was initially getting underway in 2019, plans still called for the new center to handle longer ships with greater…
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