Long Beach approves rate incentives

Under the programme, the port will cap daily dockage fees at US$8,641 a day for ships longer than 345 m (1,132 feet). Ships are charged dockage fees based on their lengths and without the change, the largest vessels would pay more than US$11,000 a day in dockage fees.

Ships that qualify under the port’s Green Ship Award Programme, another new incentive, may earn up to US$6,000 more in incentives. That programme aims to attract the newest, least polluting vessels to Long Beach.

Ocean carriers also will save rail cargo costs under a programme that will give them a US$10 incentive for every additional container they move via rail through Long Beach between August 1, 2012, and July 31, 2013, compared to the previous one-year period.