The 18,000 TEU CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin has returned to Southern California and will enter service in Long Beach for the first time on February 19, 2016, after recently calling at Pier J’s Pacific Container Terminal (PCT).
Longshore workers are expected to move around 12,500 cargo containers on and off the mega-ship in five days before it is due to leave the Port of Long Beach on February 24, 2016.
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Robert Garcia, Mayor for Long Beach, said: “There’s a reason the Port of Long Beach has been named this continent’s best seaport by our business partners in Asia.
“It’s an honour that demonstrates the respect our Port and our workers have earned globally. Our PCT terminal is just one of our facilities able to accommodate these megaships.”
Lori Ann Guzmán, President of the US Board of Harbour Commissioners, said: “Preparing for still larger ships, our new Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT) Middle Harbour terminal opens this spring.”
Technical Paper: Long Beach Driving the US into the Future
The US$1.3 billion middle harbour terminal is expected to be the most technologically advanced in the Western Hemisphere.
(Source: Port of Long Beach)
Long Beach’s Middle Harbour facility is attempting to go green with a nearly all electric, zero emissions terminal.
The project is part of an ongoing $4 billion capital programme to modernise facilities at the Port of Long Beach to bring long-term, environmentally sustainable growth.
Once it is fully completed in 2020, Middle Harbor will be able to move 3.3 million TEU annually, and handle 24,000-TEU vessels.
Read: Inside the CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin
Jon Slangerup, CEO of Port of Long Beach, said: “The Port of Long Beach is the most direct route from Asia to US markets.
“We are strengthening our value proposition by working with all of our customers and stakeholders to optimise the speed and efficiency of our marine supply chain as we continue building the Port of the Future.”
