Port Terminal Operator Wants to Double Operations

OAKLAND, CA — The Port of Oakland announced plans today to lease additional dock space to an existing terminal operator that wants to expand its operations in the Bay Area.

The pending lease agreement will help TraPac LLC nearly double its existing footprint at the port, where it currently operates two vessel berths and handles 20 percent of the cargo moving through the Port of Oakland,
according to port officials.

"This is a significant step forward for TraPac and the port," port Maritime Director John Driscoll said in a statement. "TraPac gets room to expand its thriving business and the port gets to revitalize valuable property with a highly respected tenant."

The 14-year lease agreement includes rents for two additional TraPac berths that will cost the company $13 million for the first year and gradually rise to $26 million in the final year. Also, TraPac will spend $27.3 million and the port will spend $9 million to upgrade and improve the berths, according to port officials.

Currently, TraPac operates a terminal at the port's Outer Harbor Channel, which is directly south of the Bay Bridge. This lease agreement would allow the company to take over operations at the two berths in the
Outer Harbor Terminal that are directly adjacent to its current operations.

The Outer Harbor Terminal, with its seven berths, has been vacant since May, when the company operating it, Outer Harbor Terminal LLC, ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy just seven years into a 50-year lease. If port commissioners approve the lease at their Oct. 27 meeting, TraPac would take over operations of two of those vacant berths on Nov. 1, according to port documents.

In addition to increasing the amount of cargo that can be shipped through the port, the agreement will also lead to more efficient port operations, said port spokesman Mike Zampa.

TraPac will bring in more equipment to get shipping containers off the stacks, where they're placed after being unloaded from ships, and onto trucks that haul them to their final destinations, Zampa said.

The company will also adopt an appointment system for truckers picking up cargo, which will reduce or eliminate the long waiting periods during which trucks line up on the streets surrounding the port while waiting to get into the terminals, according to Zampa.

Also, TraPac will implement a system whereby truckers are allowed to pickup and drop off cargo containers at night, effectively expanding its hours of operation and again reducing traffic congestion around the
terminals, Zampa said.

TraPac's expansion is part of an up-tick in port business over the past year, during which overall cargo volume has increased by 5 percent and export volumes increased by 10 percent, Zampa said.

"The message is that TraPac has been here since 1991 and this signals they'll be here for a lot longer," Zampa said. "We're ready for growth in the future and growth equates to more jobs."

— Bay City News; Image by Ingrid Taylar via Flickr (CC License 2.0)