Long Beach offers incentives to attract cargo

The Port of Long Beach is offering ’environmental’  incentives that it hopes will bring additional cargo to the port and help it compete with other West Coast ports that have already cut fees to grow their business.  The scheme has been approved by the Board of Harbour Commissioners.

In one incentive, the port will waive “dockage” charges – essentially giving free parking – for cargo ships that both slow down near the port and plug into shore power or use another approved pollution-cutting technology at berth.  The ‘Vessel Dockage Waiver Program’ augments other Port and state programs that require and encourage slow-steaming and shore power.

Also approved was a US$5-per-container unit incentive, which shipping lines can earn for each new loaded container brought through Long Beach; the requirement is that each container must travel inland by “on-dock rail,” which helps to eliminate truck trips on local roads by rail-hauling the containers from the wharf.