A project to create a terminal island in the Port of Los Angeles (POLA), the Harbor Performance Enhancement Center (HPEC), has secured a financer.
The US$ 130 million-dollar public-private partnership, which is forecasted to increase productivity at the port by 10% or more, will use the capital of Macquarie Principal Finance, the principal financing and investing arm of Macquarie.
Development of the 5.5 million square foot container-staging hub will support 3,500 truckloads per day from nearby container terminals to the HPEC staging area, improving the efficiency of imported containers passing through the 14 marine terminals at the San Pedro Bay complex, which supports 42% of all US imports.
Jonathan Rosenthal, Founder/CEO of HPEC said: “The HPEC development presents a truly unique opportunity to make the San Pedro Harbor the most competitive gateway for transpacific freight while reducing community impacts of the nation’s most important artery.”
Given the central location of the project site to the Harbor Department’s largest container terminals, and the projected volume of cargo moving through the San Pedro Bay ports, the project will support critical truck-based cargo movements through the gateway and thus may greatly augment core cargo handling functions.
HPEC will use a hub and spoke distribution model, which is perfected by companies such as Federal Express, UPS, and Yellow Freight.
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The innovative distribution model reduces transportation costs, improves cycle times, and reduces inventory while improving the distribution processes.
HPEC will also include an educational component at an on-site facility that will be used as a laboratory to facilitate learning, collaboration and the pursuit of new innovative ideas among the world’s leading stakeholders in the goods movement industry, academia, and other related organizations. The facility will showcase and foster economic and environmental innovation within the supply chain.
Andrew Honan, Senior Managing Director of Macquarie Principal Finance, said: “We are pleased to be joining forces with the HPEC team to develop a key part of one of the nation’s core pieces of infrastructure, the principal gateway from Asia and a critical component of the freight ecosystem.
“When completed in three years, HPEC will reduce waiting times and congestion by allowing trucks access to a staging area where pick-ups and deliveries will be streamlined.”