Port of Long Beach preps for 'year of rail' in 2024

With a goal of becoming the world’s first zero-emissions seaport, the Port of Long Beach this year will prepare for a more sustainable future by modernizing rail facilities and enhancing air quality, CEO Mario Cordero said yesterday in his annual "state of the port" address.

Construction will begin this year on the Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility, which is designed to move cargo more quickly, make the port more competitive and improve the environment for nearby communities, Cordero told 800 industry partners, community members and civic leaders gathered at the Long Beach Convention Center Grand Ballroom.

The centerpiece of the port's on-dock rail projects, the Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility will double the size of the existing Pier B rail yard to 171 acres and more than triple the volume of on-dock rail capacity handled annually to 4.7 million 20-foot equivalent units. More than 1,100 construction-related jobs will be created by the $1.6 billion project, which will be built in phases and is scheduled for completion in 2032.

"At the end of this decade, the Port of Long Beach will be on the cusp of not only operational transformation given our rail investment, but also environmental transformation — to a zero-emission port," Cordero told the crowd, according to a press release.

So far, the port has secured $643 million in federal, state and local grant funding to help complete the project. More than $500 million of that amount was awarded in 2023. Cordero said he anticipates additional funding over the coming year for several projects, including the port's effort to develop a "hydrogen hub" that would fuel cargo-handling equipment with zero-emissions technology.

Additionally, progress will continue through the next year to develop Pier Wind, a proposed 400-acre terminal designed to facilitate the assembly of offshore wind turbines, which would be towed to wind farms in the ocean off Central and Northern California.