Long Beach Harbor

When Bill Nott and the late Mac McClintock opened Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach in 1948, they had no idea of revolutionizing Southern California's public sportfishing business. But their energy and innovation lifted the standards. At their peak, they ran 32 boats, including the first all-comfort 85-footers. They promoted the sport by sponsoring their own local TV show, "Fishing Flashes"--275 of them over 10 years.

Queen Mary, meet Queen Victoria . That's pretty much how the introduction would go if these two Cunard ships -- one docked in Long Beach, one on its way to the Panama Canal -- could speak. Instead, the ships  will exchange a whistle salute amid fireworks when they "meet"  Thursday in Long Beach Harbor. Admission to the Queen Mary, usually $24.95 plus tax for adults, will be free to mark what Cunard calls a "royal rendezvous. " Queen Victoria is expected to sail into Long Beach Harbor between 5:30 and 6:15 p.m. and rendezvous with its sister ship between 6:15 and 6:45 p.m. The ship opens to visitors for free at 10 a.m.; guided tours and dining, however, are not free.

The Queen has seen better days. A makeover has been long overdue for the venerable Queen Mary, the retired cruise ship turned tourist attraction and hotel docked in Long Beach Harbor since 1967. But repairs to the city-owned ship have been delayed because of financial crisis and organizational wrangling. Long Beach officials now believe the ship is getting its long-overdue upgrades under a new management company that also operates hotels and restaurants in Yellowstone and Grand Canyon national parks and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

International trade is surging again at the major local ports, suggesting that economic strength is building despite stubbornly high unemployment. In January, the neighboring ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which together make up the country's largest freight complex, handled 13% more cargo containers than a year earlier. Other signs of recovery: Longshoremen are getting more dock work, some Southern California warehouses are hiring again, and trucking and railroad freight movement has increased.

Facing forecasts of wet weather that could flush tons of urban trash out to sea and onto local beaches, Los Angeles County authorities scrambled Thursday to reinstall a boom across the outlet of the Los Angeles River to keep debris out of Long Beach Harbor. The boom had been decommissioned Monday because the county Department of Public Works ran out of money to keep it operating.

The Exxon Long Beach, sister ship of the ill-starred Exxon Valdez, ran aground Thursday morning inside the breakwater in Long Beach Harbor, but officials said that there was no damage to the supertanker and no oil was spilled. Coast Guard Cmdr. Chris Desmond said the 950-foot Exxon Long Beach was under the control of a Long Beach harbor pilot when it strayed into relatively shallow water and became stuck in soft mud. "We're trying to figure out how it happened," Desmond said.

The Long Beach Harbor Commission took one more step Monday toward ensuring that the city will get a proposed $100-million aquarium by passing a measure pledging its support for the project. The unanimous vote of the commission means that Long Beach, which wants the aquarium as part of an economic recovery plan, is maintaining its lead over numerous rivals.

Long Beach's application for $40 million in federal assistance to build its showcase harbor development had all the right hooks. The city had suffered serious economic woes because of the Navy's pullout, the grant applicants said, with high concentrations of the poor in the area around the Queensway Bay project. The $40-million construction contract could ease the poverty by providing job training to "unemployed and underemployed Long Beach residents," the application said.

The California Coastal Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to allow the Port of Long Beach to proceed with a $98-million landfill project that requires restoration of 116 acres of wetlands in the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge. In addition, the port must make a good-faith attempt to buy 130 acres from the state in the Ballona Creek area, near Marina del Rey, for wetlands development. But first the state must obtain the land from Summa Corp., which owns the parcel.

Tour boat captain Dan Salas radioed for help Saturday as soon as he noticed a drowning baby seabird in the rolling swell beside a barge anchored in Long Beach Harbor. Three minutes later, Long Beach lifeguards arrived in a patrol boat and set to work, providing the 20 tourists aboard Salas' 80-foot vessel, Kristina, with a rare view of an avian rescue operation half a mile offshore.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, long known as America's gateway for imported goods, are trying to generate more export business as the international trade sector struggles to regain its sea legs. The mission is vital for the twin ports and the thousands of people who work on the docks as well as for trucking companies, warehouses and logistics businesses in Southern California: A new report shows that the local ports' reliance on foreign toys, clothing and other products heightened the region's economic suffering when the global recession squeezed the flow of imports, while ports with more balanced operations fared better and now are recovering more quickly.

On a drizzly afternoon, a group of tourists huddle aboard the Christopher sipping wine, nibbling cookies and gazing out at the ocean just off of Long Beach. Cameras dangle from their necks, ready to record the sights. But these sightseers are not aboard for an afternoon of whale watching or a search for dolphins and sea lions. Corroded metal shipping containers, belching smokestacks, trash-strewn waterways and oil islands highlight this harbor cruise. The 2 1/2 -hour excursion takes passengers through a seascape short on the picturesque but full of concrete and metal -- a ride through exhaust-tinged air and past power plants, rusty warehouses and the Terminal Island prison that once housed Charles Manson and Al Capone.

Southern California air regulators proposed tougher rules Friday to ensure that the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach reduce their share of deadly emissions from ships, trains, big rigs and cargo-handling equipment, prompting harsh objections from harbor officials. The so-called backstop rules, unveiled during a South Coast Air Quality Management District governing board meeting in Long Beach, would enable regulators to enforce the voluntary pollution reduction targets set by the ports to control soot and smog over the next decade and impose financial penalties if needed.

The Queen has seen better days. A makeover has been long overdue for the venerable Queen Mary, the retired cruise ship turned tourist attraction and hotel docked in Long Beach Harbor since 1967. But repairs to the city-owned ship have been delayed because of financial crisis and organizational wrangling. Long Beach officials now believe the ship is getting its long-overdue upgrades under a new management company that also operates hotels and restaurants in Yellowstone and Grand Canyon national parks and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The nation's two busiest cargo container ports -- Los Angeles and Long Beach -- ended a terrible year in international trade with strong December numbers that might signal the beginning of a long-awaited economic rebound. The Port of Los Angeles, which ranks first in the U.S., handled 562,990 cargo containers last month, a tiny increase of 0.35% over the 561,033 recorded in the same month a year earlier. The increase was driven by a huge 40.2% increase in exports, which climbed to 153,836 containers from 109,704 a year earlier.

Not too long ago, the 10,500-acre complex at the southern tip of Los Angeles County wasn't just the home of the nation's busiest seaports, it was the graveyard where old trucks went to die. Dented, rusting 1988-and-older rigs hauled cargo containers to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, earning the harbor the nickname of "diesel death zone." On Jan. 1, the neighboring ports cruised past a major pollution-fighting milestone, banning trucks made before 1994 and those that don't meet at least 2004 emissions standards -- trucks such as the 15-year-old Freightliner once owned by Guido Perez.

A Superior Court jury decided Wednesday that the Long Beach Harbor Department must pay a high-ranking administrator $913,425 in damages for firing him without good cause. The Compton jury found that the Harbor Department breached its employment contract with Leland R. Hill when it eliminated his position in 1991 as director of planning and engineering. Months before, Hill had been a top candidate to become executive director of the Harbor Department. Hill's Lawyer, Charles T.

After years of unsuccessful attempts, the Long Beach Harbor Commission on Monday approved a $1.6-billion tax on cargo to raise money to combat air pollution and clear the way for expansion projects. The "special cargo fee" will help subsidize a fleet of newer, cleaner short-haul diesel trucks at port terminals, but it has come under fire from truck drivers who say they cannot afford to operate modern, cleaner-running models.

Southern California's twin ports make up the nation's biggest cargo container hub -- and they're launching an ambitious campaign to stay that way as they navigate a weak economic recovery and increasing competition from foreign and domestic harbors. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are aggressively advertising and giving customers discounts at a time when they and most other U.S. ports are wrapping up their worst ever year-over-year decline in shipping business. In 2009, the two ports moved about 2.5 million fewer containers than the year before, the equivalent of shutting down the country's fourth-busiest seaport -- Savannah, Ga. -- for the entire year.

Air pollution from U.S.-flagged oil tankers and cargo vessels will be reduced by about 80% under new engine and fuel standards finalized Tuesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a move that could improve Los Angeles' air quality. The new standards, however, will apply only to existing U.S.-flagged ships, which account for about 10% of the vessels that visit U.S. ports each year. The vast majority of the estimated 6,000 large ships that berth annually at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex are foreign-flagged.