Port of Oakland's second-largest terminal operator to double presence at port

TraPac LLC, the second-largest terminal operator at the Port of Oakland, has signed a tentative 14-year agreement to double its capacity there by leasing 57 additional acres of property and two more vessel berths, the port said today.

TraPac, based in Wilmington, Calif., controls 66 acres and two vessel berths. It handles about 20 percent of all containerized traffic at the port. Only the Oakland International Container Terminal is a bigger terminal presence at the port.

Much of the additional acreage that TraPac is acquiring will be used for cargo-handling operations, the port said in a statement. The lease agreement is expected to be finalized at a meeting of the Board of Port Commissioners on Oct. 27.

TraPac began operations at Oakland in 1991. It also manages terminals in Los Angeles and in Jacksonville, Florida.

Earlier this week, the port reported that September containerized export volumes rose 10 percent from the same period in 2015. The increase was the first double-digit year-over-year rise since February, and the eighth increase in the first nine months of the year, the port said.

Exports account for about half of Oakland's seagoing volumes, the largest percentage of any West Coast port. Export volumes through September rose 9 percent year over year, helping to offset flat-to-down import traffic. Most of the export gains came from agriculture, which is Oakland's niche given its relatively close proximity to the abundant growing areas of California's Central Valley.

The port will develop a 400,000-square-foot cold storage facility that will be used to house refrigerated export commodities. The groundbreaking is set for February and is expected to be completed within 9 to 12 months.