New Wave of Megaships Heads for Long Beach

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French shipping giant CMA CGM has announced it will deploy six megaships to the Port of Long Beach.

Starting in May, the shipping line will regularly operate large vessels, which can carry 18,000 standard-size shipping containers, to the port, the company said last week.

A ship of similar size, the Benjamin Franklin, docked at the Port of Los Angeles in December. Two months later, the vessel returned to make a stop in Long Beach.

Normally, megaships travel between Asia and Europe. But last year, the U.S. economy grew by 2.4 percent versus 1.5 percent in the Eurozone, attracting the attention of CMA CGM.

In addition, the 110-foot-wide Panama Canal is too narrow to let the 177-foot-wide vessels pass, forcing megaships to operate between China and West Coast ports.

A January report from London-based maritime research company Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd. said West Coast ports need to make big changes in order to handle an increasing number of large vessels headed their way.

For example, the terminals need an automated infrastructure to improve productivity, the report said, along with an extension of working hours.

“There is much to be done,” the report said. “The U.S. West Coast ports will have to gear up in terms of water depth, quay length and cranes, but there is also a need to improve the efficiency of how cargo is brought to and from the port complex via truckers, who are in short supply.”

Still, the number of containers handled at the L.A. and Long Beach ports last year was the highest since 2007, with combined cargo inflow up by 1.4 percent compared with 2014.

Jon Slangerup, chief executive of the Port of Long Beach, responded to Drewry’s report in a statement, saying that the port is “already down the road in making many of the upgrades.” The port is in the middle of a $4 billion initiative to expand terminal and rail capacity, along with upgrades to its road infrastructure.

Those moves included a $1.3 billion project to expand the Middle Harbor container terminal into a fully automated and all-electric facility, which opened March 11.

Other plans include a $1 billion program to expand its capacity and a $1.5 project to replace the Gerald Desmond Bridge, making it tall enough for megaships to pass underneath.

Going Underground

The Crenshaw-LAX light-rail line will not open until 2019, but a giant machine will start running through its underground tunnel in a just few weeks.

The 950-ton tunnel borer, nicknamed Harriet Tubman in tribute to the woman who escorted 300 slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad, was lowered into the future Expo-Crenshaw station underneath Crenshaw Boulevard last week.

Two large parts of the machine will be assembled underground in the next few weeks before the tunnel boring begins.

The project is part of a $2 billion Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority project that includes tunneling along the Gold Line and the purchase of rail cars, trucks and other construction equipment.

The German-made borer, 21.5 feet wide and 400 feet long, will dig a one-mile tunnel from Exposition Boulevard to Vernon Street, according to the Metro website.

The tunneling is expected to last 13 months, digging 60 feet a day. It will link three underground stations – Crenshaw-Expo, Martin Luther King Jr. and Leimert Park, once it is complete.

After reaching the final point, it will be turned around and then bore all the way back to excavate a second tunnel.

Mobile Plans

GoLA, an app designed to streamline travel plans in Los Angeles, is set to launch a payment feature.

Mayor Eric Garcetti announced last week that the app will now allow customers to pay for their Metro trips.

“The app will turn on bookings and payments features beginning in April through the summer,” said Anna Bahr, a spokeswoman for the Mayor’s Office, who said it will also offer daily commute updates and an upgraded interface.

GoLA, which can be downloaded for Android and Apple devices, was created through a partnership between Xerox Corp., Lyft and the city of Los Angeles. The app allows commuters to see public transit schedules and traffic data in real time as well as find the cheapest and fastest route to a destination.

Other features include tracking the environmental impact of various modes of transportation, including travel by subway, train, bicycling and walking.

An average L.A. driver spent 80 hours waiting in traffic last year, according to a report by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. The app is designed to help commuters avoid traffic jams, which are among the worst in the country. It offers information for Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino counties as well.

Staff reporter Olga Grigoryants can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 226

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