Long Beach Container Terminal wins sustainable innovation award

LBCT green assets include 102 autonomous battery powered transport vehicles. [Photo: LBCT]

The U.S. Green Building Council-Los Angeles has named Long Beach Container Terminal its “Sustainable Innovation Project of the Year.”

Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT), one of the busiest cargo-handling terminals in the world, was honored for the scale and positive impact of its 15-year effort to convert its cranes and cargo-handling vehicles to zero-emission electric.

The massive effort has resulted in an 86% reduction in greenhouse gas and criteria pollutant emissions to date, while quadrupling LBCT’s cargo-handling capacity. LBCT also was recognized for its significant emission-offset strategies that further reduce impacts on the disadvantaged communities surrounding the San Pedro Bay port complex and in other parts of California.

“We are honored by this very prestigious award and for being recognized as an environmental leader. Although our significant investments have made us one of the most advanced cargo-handling facilities in the world, LBCT continues to pursue a sensible strategy with its employees, partners, and stakeholders with the goal of achieving complete net zero operations in just a few years,” said Anthony Otto, LBCT CEO. “LBCT remains a committed community partner in the important endeavor of clean air for Southern California.”

“LBCT is, by far, one of the largest and most ambitious green projects having a positive impact across our region here in Southern California,” said USGBC-LA executive director Ben Stapleton. “LBCT is to be commended for its environmental achievements thus far, where it is headed, and for proactively engaging key stakeholders to step up and accelerate their own clean-energy goals, including making workforce development a focus as it needs to be for the betterment of local communities.”

In its award application, LBCT laid out its ambitious strategy to secure even greater environmental achievements over the next seven years. Since October 2022, LBCT has been awarded $67 million in federal and state grants to replace the remaining diesel terminal equipment with zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs). Another $150 million or more is needed to complete LBCT’s net zero final infrastructure transition plans, which include electric-charging stations, clean-power generation and storage, and onsite renewables. Additionally, LBCT is collaborating with operators of ships, trucks, and trains to incentivize clean cargo goods movement across the entire sector.

“Major shippers and retailers are looking for operators that can transport goods with less or, ideally, no carbon emissions. Because we are so far ahead, LBCT is in an ideal position to provide the global supply chain with immediate solutions to climate change and regulatory challenges,” said Bonnie Nixon, LBCT’s director of sustainability. “Our net zero progress path is good news for our customers, our communities, our workforce, and the environment. It is a journey where we all thrive together.”

​Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT LLC), a portfolio company of Macquarie Asset Management, has three berths within Piers D, E and F at the Port of Long Beach featuring 4,200 feet of wharf line and the deepest dredged dockside of any U.S. Pacific Coast port. LBCT runs 18 ship-to-shore cranes, six intermodal rail cranes, 69 yard gantry cranes – all electrified – and 102 autonomous battery powered transport vehicles.

• Download LBCT’s net zero plan HERE