Long Beach Port Director Will Retire After Overseeing Expansion

Long Beach port director Steven R. Dillenbeck, who presided over the harbor’s considerable expansion over the last decade, announced Monday that he will retire in October.

City harbor commissioners said they planned to hire Dillenbeck as a consultant after his departure from the $170,000-a-year post, and tapped his deputy, Richard D. Steinke, to fill the job as acting executive director.

A port spokeswoman said the board had not determined whether to undertake a more comprehensive search for a successor.

At 57, Dillenbeck has spent nearly his entire career in seaport administration, first at the Port of Los Angeles, and then at its next-door rival.

He joined the Long Beach port as director of properties in 1987, and was promoted to executive director in 1991.

During his tenure, the port poured more than $1.3 billion into expansion projects, while the number of cargo containers it handles nearly doubled.

“It’s been challenging and rewarding, but now I am ready to move on to a slower pace and enjoy my life,” he said in a statement.

Dillenbeck’s decision follows by eight months the departure of Los Angeles’ port director, Ezunial Burts, who left to run the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

That leaves both ports with new top managers in a period of deep uncertainty. Long Beach is grappling with the stalled development of the city’s shuttered Naval Station, which it had intended to lease to its most promising customer, a Chinese shipping giant. Los Angeles is wrestling with a 5-week-old strike by city-employed port pilots and with longshoremen’s opposition to a new coal terminal.