California’s Port of Long Beach has commissioned a study to evaluate the business case for short-haul rail that is due to be completed in the coming months. The analysis will shed light on the market demand, the anticipated costs, and the next steps if the findings support shuttling cargo by rail between the San Pedro Bay port complex and the major consumer markets and warehousing districts within 160 km of the harbor.
“Short-haul rail is a key component of a broader Port rail expansion strategy to enable our regional supply chain partners to achieve significant gains in velocity, throughput and environmental improvements. We’re taking a comprehensive look at the feasibility of this concept,” Port CEO Jon Slangerup said.
Up to 70 percent of containerized imports that move through the San Pedro Bay ports leave the harbor complex by truck. Of that total, about 40 percent are headed east for distribution centers and warehouses in San Bernardino and Riverside counties known as the Inland Empire. At these facilities, cargo is transloaded to larger containers or trailers for shipment by rail across the country, or by truck to local destinations.
“We want to know if there is a valid business case for moving this transloaded segment of cargo to the Inland Empire by rail,” Mike Christensen, the Port of Long Beach’s Senior Executive Lead for Supply Chain Optimization said.
Rail improvements are a major component of the Port of Long Beach’s USD 4 billion 10-year capital improvement program, with about one-fourth of the total budget dedicated to rail projects. All are designed to enhance on-dock rail capacity, velocity and safety and boost the rate of containers shipped directly to and from the waterfront by on-dock rail to 35 percent, up from Long Beach’s current average of 28 percent.
From terminals with state-of-the-art on-dock rail to the Alameda Corridor to the Class I railroads’ regional networks, the infrastructure needed to support short-haul trains is largely in place and has the capacity to accommodate more cargo. Still needed is an inland intermodal rail terminal.
The short-haul rail will eliminate up to 750 truck trips within the region’s impacted highway system
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