The Port of Oakland in California has been awarded approximately US$50 million from the US Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration (MARAD) to modernise wharves and terminal infrastructure at the Outer Harbor.
The Port’s Outer Harbor will be upgraded to accommodate ultra large container vessels, which are now a regular part of the shipping fleet calling on West Coast ports. These ships have a handling capacity of up to 24,000 TEUs but are restricted at portions of Oakland’s Outer Harbor by ageing wharves that were originally designed for smaller ships.
The federal grant supports the port’s multi-year effort to modernise and upgrade its infrastructure and will complement its transition to zero-emissions operations.
The total cost of the project to improve the Outer Harbor wharf is estimated to be US$66 million. Once completed, the infrastructure improvements will ensure long-term efficiency, productivity, and flexibility of port operations.
The modernisation project will include wharf strengthening, structural repairs, replacement of container crane rails, installation of support piles, strengthening of support beams, and replacing the electrical bus bar system to accommodate larger ship-to-shore cranes.