Union dockworkers are finding there isn't enough work to go around. Big cargo ships are joining the ranks of the unemployed. And yet, the people who run the nation's two largest container ports are convinced that now is the time to build for the future.
And they're bracing for lots of objections.
Los Angeles and Long Beach port officials see the signs of retrenchment in the shipping industry. The global economic downturn has cut the rates that some ships charge to carry cargo to less than $600 per 40-foot container from as much as $3,400 in 2007. Outside some of the world's busiest harbors -- Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai -- dozens of cargo vessels are idled with no goods to carry.
At the Port of Los Angeles, 7.3 million containers moved across the docks from January through November, down more than 5%.
The drop was bigger in Long Beach, with 6 million containers moving through the port, down about 10%.
Still, after stalling for several years, some projects are reaching crucial stages, and the ports' directors say it's time to push them through.
The more than $2 billion in projects in their capital improvement plans, officials say, would amount to an important economic stimulus package that would employ thousands of regional workers. The projects, they contend, would reduce the pollution endured by neighbors by using newer, greener technologies.
The developments also would help prepare the harbor for when the global economy gets hot again. Port officials note that the harbor was unprepared for the boom that started in 2004, and that made the pollution even worse as ships idled their diesel engines offshore for as long as a week, waiting to be unloaded.
"After years of robust growth, we have a chance to take a breath and concentrate on some infrastructure projects," said Richard Steinke, executive director of the Port of Long Beach. "We can stimulate economic growth, put people back to work and position ourselves for the turnaround."
With a slate of important projects, including the replacement of a cruise ship terminal that dates from the Kennedy administration, inching toward approval, Steinke's Los Angeles counterpart said she realized that this was a difficult time to move ahead.
"We are trying to implement the most far-reaching improvements ever, and we are trying to do that in a down year, with 2009 looking even worse. That makes it really tough," said Geraldine Knatz, executive director of the L.A. port.
