Deep inside the nation's busiest seaport lurks the old Southwest Marine shipyard, a collection of rusting corrugated-metal buildings, broken windows and dark interiors that has appeared in more than a dozen films and television shows, including "Die Hard," "24" and "CSI: Miami."
But these days, the 38-acre site at the Port of Los Angeles is the setting for another kind of high-stakes drama, this time involving competing visions of the port's future. It's being waged with spreadsheets, economic forecasts, political clout and environmental impact reports as thick as a set of old telephone books.
On one side is the defunct Southwest Marine shipyard's last caretaker: Long Beach yacht builder Gambol Industries, which wants the right to turn the site back into a full-service shipyard with modern dry docks.
"We are looking at doing new ship construction and repair. This would be a world-class facility, and we feel that the employment diversification we could bring to the port, in this economy, would be huge," said Gambol Industries Vice President John Bridwell, whose company has assembled a team of preservationists and other backers and $50 million in private funding.
On the other side is the Port of Los Angeles, union dockworkers and businesses. They say that the Southwest Marine site is a vital piece of a complicated puzzle that includes dredging the harbor to accommodate the next generation of colossal cargo vessels and three long-delayed terminal expansion and cleanup projects. They want the old shipyard's boat slips to store the toxic muck dredged to make the harbor deeper.
"It's irresponsible to jeopardize this dredging project that's critical for the future of the port and the jobs that support this community," said George Lujan, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13.
For years, the site housed one of the last full-service shipyards on the West Coast. But with the end of the Cold War and military contract downsizing, its fortunes diminished and the shipyard closed in 2005.
The site hasn't been dormant. Port officials hired Gambol Industries to serve as caretaker and to help promote it as a location shoot for the entertainment industry.
During one 11-month period, from April 2007 to March 2008, port records show, the Port of Los Angeles took in more than $150,500 from various shoots on the site, its 18.5% contractual share of the revenue reeled in by Gambol Industries.
