WASHINGTON: The Port of Oakland has outlined a US$600m spending plan featuring investments in rail, a refrigerated warehouse and a terminal expansion. The port’s maritime director John Driscoll told an American Association of Port Authorities conference that the port would team with private developers and public agencies to modernise its infrastructure. “We’re building for growth in a shipping industry that is becoming more and more competitive,” he stated.
The proposed investments include US$244m, mostly from government grants, to separate railroad tracks from major port roadways. Construction of a US$90m privately built refrigerated warehouse called Cool Port could begin next month, with the emphasis on increasing chilled beef and pork exports.
A further US$50m privately financed expansion of the port’s second largest marine terminal has already begun. Driscoll added that the port has recently completed a US$100m railyard near marine terminals and a proposed logistics complex. The proximity of the new developments should be a drawing card for shippers, he said, enabling cargo to be quickly shifted between rail, road and ocean transport.
