WASHINGTON: Port of Oakland officials say they will begin work on about 750,000 square feet of warehouses this year. The project will allow the port to increase cargo volume coming through Oakland, much of it on the way to Asia as demand for agricultural products grows. It might also add more jobs to the existing 73,000 or so jobs connected to the port’s operations, which is run by 470 employees, be they dock workers or truck drivers. With these expansions, the refrigerated warehouse in particular will be able to fit 36 train cars inside at one time, and the logistics complex will speed up “transloading:” Getting items on and off ships, trains and cars. This gives Oakland’s port greater capacity to fit more inventory and to get products through the process more quickly.
The project includes raising the height of ship-to-shore cranes so bigger ships can load and unload, a refrigerated warehouse to bring more frozen and chilled meat products through per year, and a 440,000-square-foot Seaport Logistics Complex warehouse acting as a transfer point for cargo. The port expects construction of the new warehouse space will finish in 2018.
The port has seen a big increase in Asian demand for beef and pork products from the area, as well as other agricultural products like wine, nuts and fruits, port spokesperson Mike Zampa told the Business Times. The new warehouse will add an estimated 30,000 containers of chilled meat products to the current capacity. “It helps the supply chain move, and we think it’s going to give us the advantage over the next 20 years,” Zampa said. “Other ports don’t have the land available. As we grow cargo, we grow economic vitality for the city of Oakland.” In 2016, the Oakland port handled some 2.7 million 20-foot containers with all kinds of imported and exported goods. The port transports about $64 billion a year worth of goods, and Zampa says that is still on the rise since 2012.
