There is an easy way to attract more traffic in any business: you give your customer a financial break.
The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners did just that, approving two incentive programs on Monday — one which encourages larger, albeit cleaner ships to dock at the Port, and the other aimed at attracting more containers to come via rail through Long Beach.
“We are committed to protecting our market share and the tens of thousands of jobs that depend on our Port,” said Port of Long Beach Executive Director J. Christopher Lytle, said in a public statement. “Shippers have options on how to route their cargo, and we want to make sure we give them the right reasons to move through Long Beach.”
Bigger ships seem counterintuitive to cleaner waters and air, but the truth is the exact opposite: they carry more cargo, thereby resulting in less ships on the water and often have newer, more environmentally-efficient engines. And the Port is big-ship ready, as Harbor Commissioner Rich Dines put it, given that the Port of Long Beach is one of the few in North American that can welcome ships with 13,000 TSU units. “[Big ships] are calling at our Port now” Dines said. “This is about going after additional business” — that additional business being ships which are 50% larger than what the Port had taken in the past.
The incentives, set to launch on August 1, will cap the dockage fees associated with daily use by big ships as well as ocean carriers who move additional containers via rail. The goal, according to a release from the Port, is to protect the Port’s share of business in an increasingly competitive maritime market, keep jobs in the region and encourage more environmentally friendly and efficient practices.
the largest ships calling at the Port will have their daily dockage fees capped — $8,641 a day for ships longer than 345 meters; without this incentive, ships would pay more than $11,000 a day — and ocean carriers will receive $10 for every container they move through rail from August 1 to the end of July in 2013. In addition, ships that qualify under the Green Ship Award Program, aimed at maintaining a higher usage of environmental-friendly cargo ships at the Port, could receive some $6,000 in additional incentives. The programs will help protect the Port’s share of business in an increasingly competitive maritime market, keep jobs in the region and encourage more environmentally friendly and efficient practices.