New LA staging hub to improve productivity

The three-year project will see 3,500 truckloads per day being taken from nearby container terminals to the staging hub and is expected to improve freight flow, increase velocity, reduce emissions, add jobs, and enhance the efficiency of imported containers passing through the 14 marine terminals at the LA/Long Beach San Pedro Bay complex, that supports 42% of all US imports.

Jonathan Rosenthal, founder/CEO of the US$130m Harbor Performance Enhancement Center (HPEC), which is managing the project with capital from Macquarie Principal Finance, stressed: “HPEC will increase productivity at the Port by 10% or more.”

Spoke distribution

The public-private project will transform 110 acres that is currently fallow, building a hub that is central to the largest container terminals and the projected volume of cargo moving through the San Pedro Bay ports to support critical truck-based cargo movements

HPEC will also use a spoke distribution model to reduces transportation costs, improve cycle times and reduces inventory, while improving distribution processes.

Alex Cherin, executive director of the California Trucking Association’s Intermodal Conference, added: “With HPEC coming online, the trucking community and its customers will have one start-stop location to pick up and drop off containers, distributing to regional hubs around the clock. This is one of the most important projects in the nation and will be a real game changer.”

HPEC will also create an educational onsite facility that will showcase and foster economic and environmental innovation within the supply chain.