The Port of Long Beach has received federal approval for a $200 million channel deepening project, which is designed to help the port — historically the second-busiest in the nation — accomodate larger, more modern container ships.
Construction is still several years off.
But the project was included in the Water Resources Development Act of 2022, which President Joe Biden signed on Dec. 23.
The legislation authorized federal flood control, navigation and ecosystem improvements. The Long Beach port channel deepening is one of only five navigation projects nationwide that met the goals of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planning process for construction authorization.
“This project will widen and deepen the harbor serving one of the world’s top 10 busiest container port complexes,” Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero said in a written statement. “Increasing the safety and efficiency of vessels transiting our waterways supports our mission to remain competitive while reducing pollution from port-related operations.”
The project will provide more room for the largest tankers and container vessels traveling through the harbor, along with fewer delays related to tidal flows, according to the port.
Long Beach isn’t the only port that has spent the past decade working on major channel dredging projects to accommodate the mega ships that are becoming the norm.
The neighboring Port of Los Angeles, for example, finished a 10-year, $370 million Main Channel deepening project in 2013. That project deepened the L.A. Port’s main navigational channel and turning basins to accommodate larger vessels calling from around the world. At-berth dredging projects have been done in the years since then.
In Long Beach, the deeper, wider channels will also reduce the need for large vessels to transfer liquid bulk cargo or containers to smaller vessels before entering the harbor, according to information provided by port officials.
Earlier legislation — the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — designated nearly $8 million for early planning, engineering and design work.
The port’s Channel Deepening Project has been in the works for more than eight years as part of the Port of Long Beach’s Master Plan.
The project, which the Army Corps of Engineers will undertake, includes:
- Deepening the Long Beach Approach Channel from 76 to 80 feet, which will ease turning bends in the Main Channel.
- Constructing an approach channel and turning basin to Pier J South, with a depth of 55 feet.
- Depositing dredged material in near-shore sites for reuse or in federally approved ocean disposal sites.
The $200 million cost is being shared by the Port of Long Beach and the Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for building and maintaining the nation’s waterways.
The corps endorsed the project in July based on a multiyear environmental and cost-benefit study. That study concluded that deepening and widening channels in the harbor would improve vessel navigation and safety, and provide national economic benefits valued at more than $15 million annually.
The Long Beach port has traditionally trailed only POLA in how much cargo goes through it. But in recent months, both ports have been surpassed by the Port of New York and New Jersey, with other East Coast and Gulf Coast ports also catching up.
The reasons for that are myriad.
Those reasons include shifting sea routes based on changing foreign manufacturing trends and retailers looking to diversify where they send containers after the backlogs the LA and Long Beach ports experienced during their unprecedented cargo boom in 2020 and 2021.
But both ports have long talked about the need to stay competitive with other U.S. ports, including by automating operations and ensuring larger ships can dock; one of the benefits, for example, of the Long Beach International Gateway, which succeeded the Gerald Desmond Bridge in connecting Long Beach to Terminal Island, is that it has a higher clearance for ships traveling under it.
“We are grateful to members of the House and Senate and the Army Corps of Engineers who championed this bill, the many lawmakers from both parties who voted for it and President Biden,” Sharon L. Weissman, president of the Long Beach harbor commission, said in a written statement this week, referring to the Water Resources Development Act. “Their overwhelming support recognizes how vital international trade through the Port of Long Beach is to the U.S. economy.”
In September, the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners certified the project’s companion environmental impact report.
And in the coming year, the port and corps will deliver a design agreement and begin the final design work.
Construction is projected to begin in 2027 and take about three years.
