The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners has unanimously approved a $123 million dredging and wharf building contract that officially starts construction of the landmark Middle Harbor Redevelopment Project, one of the largest and most ambitious efforts ever undertaken by the Port of Long Beach.
The contract covers the first part of a $1 billion modernization and consolidation of two aging shipping terminals into one state-of-the-art container terminal with twice the cargo capacity. The overall project is planned to take nine years. This first part, which includes building wharfs, dredging one slip and filling in another, is expected to start this spring and take 22 months.
The contract awarded Monday to a joint venture of the Seattle-based Manson and Connolly construction companies moved the project from the behind-the-scenes engineering and design process into the construction phase. The project’s environmental impact report received approval from the Harbor Commission and the Long Beach City Council in 2009.
“We’re talking about a tremendously positive economic impact for this region – this contract alone will create 670 jobs over a nearly two-year period, and is one of the biggest contracts awarded by the Port,” said Richard D. Steinke, Port of Long Beach Executive Director. “We’re looking forward to this first phase of redeveloping Middle Harbor.”
The Middle Harbor project’s environmental technologies and efficiencies will allow the redeveloped terminal to move additional cargo and create thousands of new goods-movement jobs while cutting pollution in half.
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Source: polb, February 17, 2011