The nation’s busiest shipping gateway hailed a windfall of nearly $600 million in state infrastructure grants for the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles on Thursday, July 6.
The Port of Long Beach hosted California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin on Thursday, who during a press conference called the occasion a “historic and momentous” day for the ports and people throughout the state.
The total statewide funding announced on Thursday, Omishakin said, amounts to more than $1.5 billion in port and freight infrastructure. That money will pay for long-term upgrades for goods movement capacity and efforts to lessen environmental impacts on neighboring communities.
The ports of LA and Long Beach combined received more than one-third of that funding.
The Port of Long Beach will get $350 million total, which will go toward completing a series of construction and clean-air technology projects designed to speed up the transformation to zero-emissions operations. That money will be split into two major efforts:
- $225 million will fund a variety of zero-emissions cargo-moving equipment and supportive infrastructure projects across the port, including top handlers, along with tugboats and locomotives. It’s the single largest grant the port has received to support zero-emissions goals as part of the 2017 Clean Air Action Plan Update.
- $158.4 million will go toward the planned Pier B On-Dock Rail Support facility, which will shift more cargo from trucks to on-dock rail. The $1.57 billion facility will be built in phases, with construction set to begin in 2024 and be completed in 2032.
At the Port of Los Angeles, $233 million in state grants will support three critical supply chain and safety projects:
- The Maritime Support Facility and Expansion Projects, which will provide chassis and empty container storage for all 12 container terminals at the ports of L.A. and Long Beach, with the additional funding providing for an improved expanded area from 30 to…
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