Los Angeles Harbor

As authorities consider whether to file criminal charges in the deaths of hundreds of seabirds in the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, wildlife advocates and shippers on Thursday said they are considering new protocols for storing and moving barges that often become nesting sites. "It's an issue that needs to be addressed," said Long Beach city prosecutor John Fentis.

Luis Ceja's orange Freightliner is rumbling down Ferry Street near the Port of Los Angeles, spewing diesel fumes. As a tiny, plastic hula girl shimmies on the dashboard, Ceja starts fuming too -- about how hard his job is, about how little he earns and about the fact that he and his fellow truckers can't bear the burden of improving the air quality here. "I hate that my truck pollutes," he says. "But I don't have the money to retrofit it or replace it.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are teaming with a tugboat operator to give the shipping industry's grimy workhorse an ecological makeover, adding a hybrid electrical system to the vessel's powerful diesel engines. "It should have a profound impact on tug technology in the decades ahead," Port of Los Angeles spokesman Arley Baker said. The first boat from Foss Maritime Co., a leading U.S.

The explosion of imports from Asia has turned Southern California into the nation's loading dock. More than 40% of the goods that come to U.S. shores in truck-size cargo containers flow through the region's twin ports to destinations in every state, and 28% of exports from around the country leave through the local harbors, a new study found.

Sorting through freshly arrived chunks of scrap metal Sunday morning at Terminal Island, a worker came upon a surprise find: a World War II-era hand grenade. And after police, FBI and military explosives specialists rushed to the Sims Hugo Neu metal yard, they turned up more vintage hand grenades, as well as rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds and the casing of a 500-pound bomb. The source of the materials mystified officials, who did not disclose the total amount of munitions found.

It's not just about the cargo boxes. Los Angeles port officials don't want potential customers to think they are interested in handling only container traffic. They also want to maintain the facility's status as the nation's fourth-busiest cruise-line port and the West Coast's leading departure point for vacations at sea.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation's busiest seaport complex, are proposing an "unprecedented" overhaul of dockside trucking that officials say would slash diesel pollution from trucks by 80% in five years while improving domestic security and working conditions for drivers.

Capping a 10 1/2 -month investigation that came to be known as "Terngate," a tugboat captain and his deckhand are expected to be charged this morning in connection with the deaths last summer of hundreds of seabirds in the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex. The charges in the case that came to light in June when the corpses of newly hatched terns began washing up on local beaches will be announced at a news conference at Long Beach City Hall led by city prosecutor John Fentis.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. said it would buy a fleet of new trucks to exclusively serve a rail yard that it wants to build inside the Port of Los Angeles. Burlington said the plan was proof that the company intended to build the nation's most environmentally friendly rail yard. Its planned Southern California International Gateway, to be built near an elementary school, faces several hurdles and hasn't been approved.

The 7-year-old has been behaving badly, the captain complains. Like a moody child, the British Purpose, a massive BP oil tanker, is riding low off the Port of Long Beach, stubbornly content to stay right where she is. Lately, the Purpose has been hard to turn at low speeds. And on this afternoon, low speed is all that the 310,000-ton ship has. No worries. The captain entrusts the tanker to Victor Schisler, one of the best harbor pilots in the world.