Giant Cargo Terminal Debuts

Using material dredged from the bottom of the harbor and 11 million tons of rock shipped from Catalina Island, Port of Los Angeles engineers have built what they say is the largest container terminal in the world.

Pier 400 was mostly constructed over the last eight years and can hold as many as 23,900 containers.

When completed, the 484-acre terminal will be the size of 366 football fields and could hold the entire UCLA campus.

On Thursday, officials from the Port of Los Angeles, Maersk Sealand shipping company and APM Terminals gave the media a tour of the complex as workers put the finishing touches on the behemoth pier before the arrival of its first shipment on Aug. 17.

Port officials expect the pier to pump $3.4 billion into the regional economy and create 58,000 jobs during the next 25 years.

Pier 400 “truly sets the international standard” for container terminals, said Larry Keller, the Port of Los Angeles executive director.

Engineers dredged 54 million cubic yards of material from the harbor floor to create the terminal. By stacking it with enough rock to build 25 Mount Rushmores, engineers created “weir boxes,” which allowed the water from the material to run back into the ocean, and the sand to dry and harden, said Stacey Jones, the terminal’s chief engineer.

Pier 400 is being built in two phases. Phase I, which officials touted Thursday, covers 343 acres and cost $340 million. It includes 10 huge cranes, 12 sets of train tracks and room for 222 train cars.

The tracks at Pier 400 connect to the new Alameda Corridor, a 20-mile rail expressway that opened in April and links rail yards south of downtown Los Angeles to the Los Angeles-Long Beach harbor complex.

Phase II is expected to be completed by 2004 and will cost $140 million. That phase will expand the pier’s container yard and berth area by 141 acres.

Money to build Pier 400 came from a federal grant and by selling bonds, said Theresa Adams Lopez, spokeswoman for the Port of Los Angeles. APM Terminals, the company leasing Pier 400, will pay the port a fee for each container imported.

The Port of Los Angeles opened Pier J, a 100-acre terminal, in 1993 near the adjacent Port of Long Beach, said Alan McCorkle, the managing director of Pier 400.

“One hundred acres at that time was a mega-facility,” he said.

But an increase in shipping prompted officials to seek more acreage. “It’s a challenge, it’s scary, but that’s what you need--more acres,” McCorkle said.