Evolution

Worldport L.A. from Mud-Flats to Worldport

1542, a Portuguese Navigator, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, discovered a small backwater of mud flats, which he named the “Bay of Smokes”. He could not have dreamed of the transformation his discovery would undergo in the future. It was to become the Port of Los Angeles. Situated 5,000 miles from the UK, 35 miles from Hollywood, and 20 miles from Disneyland, it is now known as “Worldport LA”. With a total of 3,700 land-acres, and the same figure over water, it combines the ports of San Pedro, Wilmington, and Long Beach.

However, the port did not just evolve. It was bitterly fought over by rich and powerful men from Long Beach, San Pedro, and Santa Monica. Each claimed that they could offer the greatest promise for a deep-water port of the future. The arguments ranged back and forth for ten years until 1896 when the committee reconfirmed that the new port would be at San Pedro. The first barge-load of stone for the breakwater was dumped into the sea in April of 1899. It was to develop into the Port of Los Angeles that we know today. Currently undergoing a vast expansion programme’ it is the largest port on the West Coast of the USA, and one of the largest in the world. Its statistics are quite staggering. The port now receives over 3,000 vessels a year. In May of 2000 it handled more than 400,000 containers.

The magic figure of 1,000,000 cruise passengers was exceeded in 1998, with this figure increasing each year. Surprisingly, some 60% of cargo brought into the port will stay west of the Rockies. With 35 miles of waterfront, Worldport has 26 major cargo terminals, and 6 container terminals. A $26m investment in a new 47-acre Container Transfer Facility on Terminal Island, is currently used mainly by Japan’s NYK and Taiwan’s Evergreen Lines. Here, containers are unloaded directly onto railcars for immediate distribution.

Working in the outer harbour, the FLORIDA is the largest cutter-suction dredge of its kind in the United States and was used to dredge some 26m cubic yards of soil. This was used as landfill for the construction of the new 265-acre Pier 300. American President Lines moved onto phase one in 1996. Another investment of $200m resulted in the new 120-acre Los Angeles Export Terminal on pier 400. Handling coal and petroleum coke it can take vessels of up to 250,000-tons deadweight. The Pier 400 project involves an investment of some $600m. For those interested in matters maritime, and particularly for the ship photographer, Worldport LA has much to offer.

Situated on Ports O’ Call, the former San Pedro-Terminal Island ferry building now houses the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. It boasts a great collection of models, memorabilia, paintings, and an excellent souvenir shop. Ports O’ Call Village is a wonderful tourist area at the side of the San Pedro Channel with over one hundred restaurants and shops to choose from. The restaurants run the length of the village, with excellent food to suit all tastes.

The Channel is busy with shipping 24 hours a day with vessels of every description. There is a never-ending stream of tugs of the Wilmington Transportation Co, and Foss Maritime (previously the Pacific Towing Company.) RALPH E. BOUCHARD is a regular sight as she passes up and down. A large pusher tug she handles the largest double-hulled barge on the West Coast of the United States, carrying 20,000-tons of crude oil from the Santa Barbara oil terminal.

If you are lucky you may see a maiden voyage arrival greeted by one of the old fireboats. These old ships are extremely effective, and can pump 18,600 gallons of water per minute. During daytime there are harbour trips, pleasure cruises, dinner sailing cruises, whale-watching trips, deep-sea fishing, and helicopter flights. Or perhaps you just wish to relax. What better way than to sit at one of the harbour-side restaurants with a camera and a couple of beers, watching the harbour activity.

In many ports of the world ferries can be used as photography platforms. Rather unusually, Los Angeles is the only port that springs to mind that does not have any Ferry services. There is one operation that feeds the holiday island of Santa Catalina some 20 miles offshore, but these ships are very small. Therefore, the best way to see the port is to take one of the harbour tours. There are many to choose from and they operate all year round from Ports O’ Call. At $8 per adult most are of one-hour duration. At weekend’s one particular company (“Los Angeles Harbour Cruises”) run trips of one and a half hours at $10. The skippers are usually very knowledgeable and each morning they obtain up-to-date information and details concerning the latest arrivals.

If I now take you on such a tour you will be armed with the necessary information to enjoy a very rewarding day. From the Village, you will first head up-channel toward the bridge. The San Pedro Channel is 50 feet deep and has no difficulty in handling the largest of vessels, which often pass with just yards between them.

The Vincent Thomas Bridge is the third longest suspension bridge on the West Coast. A mile and a quarter long, it crosses the channel from San Pedro to Terminal Island. At one time a superb vantage point, it is now against the law for pedestrians to use the bridge. Due to the many suicides a 20-ft high mesh fence now runs its full length. From the far side of the island the Gerald Desmond Bridge continues across the Terminal Island Channel to the city of Long Beach. Until 1891, Terminal Island was known as Rattlesnake Island. It took its new name from the Los Angeles Terminal Railroad, when that company extended its route to terminate on the western side of the island. To the North of the V.T Bridge, the turning basin is where the larger vessels are swung to head down-channel.

Adjacent to the turning basin and earmarked for further expansion, a huge empty area marks the site of the famous Todd Shipyard. Closed down in September of 1989 it was later demolished. Previously the Los Angeles Shipbuilding and dry-dock Co, it was taken over by Todd during the 2nd world war, and went on to produce many Liberty and Victory ships. The turning basin gives access to the oil storage berths, the new Indies terminal, and the Cerritos Channel container terminals. Immediately below the bridge is the permanent berth for the preserved Victory-ship LANE VICTORY. Just a hundred yards from here on the right of the channel (we are now heading down-stream) is the Cruise ship Terminal. San Pedro is the home-port of several ships of Royal Caribbean International, and Carnival Cruise Lines. Discussion is currently under way concerning a new terminal for Carnival, to be built at Long Beach.

Across the channel from the cruise ships we see the gigantic container terminal of Evergreen Line. With over 100 vessels, Evergreen is one of the ports major users. Their berths run down the left-hand side of the channel as far as the shipyards of Southwest Marine. In size, Southwest can handle more than 95% of the worlds shipping, taking ships of up to 265,000 tons deadweight. In addition to their general operations they have a huge US Government Contract to maintain ships of the US Navy, and the mothball fleets of Suisun Bay.

Until recently, Southwest Marine was the only shipyard on the US West Coast with ship breaking facilities. Unfortunately, the authorities withdrew the license in 1995. It had been decided that ship breaking was not really in keeping with the tourist image. The US aircraft carrier BONNE HOMME RICHARD, and the Attack Submarine BARBEL, were left for more than two years in a partly dismantled condition before eventually being finished off in the dry-dock. With the loss of the licence many shipyard workers lost their livelihood.

We cross once again to the right-hand side of the channel opposite Southwest Marine, and the main body of Ports O’ Call Village. The shops and restaurants continue down past Fisherman’s slip, which is home to more than one hundred fishing vessels. The next major utility is the Municipal Fish market, the largest on the West Coast of the USA. It handles Tuna, Salmon, Lobster, King-prawns, and other seafood. Behind each of the many doors lies a separate company. The various canneries of San Pedro produce more than half the total canned fish in the USA. Adjacent, the GATX petro-chemical facility processes over 200 different chemicals. Finally on this side, the former Kaiser Coal terminal is currently derelict and a modern facility has been built on the new Pier 400.

Directly across the channel, the large government-owned area is known as Reservation point. On this point are situated the US Immigration Detention centre, and the base of the United States 11th Coast-guard district behind which is the Terminal Island State Penitentiary. The Coastguard area stretches from Oregon down to the Mexican Border, and the facility is the home of two Long Endurance cutters. USCG CHASE, and the name ship of the class USCG HAMILTON. Beautiful ships of some 3,000 tons it’s hard to believe that they are now more than 35 years old. HAMILTON was built in 1965.

Rounding the point brings us to the outer harbour of San Pedro. The anchorage area is inside the breakwater and at any given time there are always several vessels waiting to enter port. It has the largest man-made breakwater in the world stretching from Carile Beach, down to Alamitos Bay just below Long Beach. With three breaks in its length the nearest to the San Pedro Channel is known as both Angels Gate, or the San Pedro Gap. The lighthouse is the San Pedro flasher and was the world’s first fully automated solar powered lighthouse.

The harbour tours take sightseers to within 300-ft of the exercise yards of the Terminal Island State Penitentiary. Built in 1938 as a Federal men’s Penitentiary it holds medium category prisoners who have been convicted of such crimes as bank robbery, fraud, tax evasion, treason, forgery and drugs. John De Lorean was held here, and Al Capone spent his last few years here after being transferred down from Alcatraz in 1939. The watchtowers are manned 24 hours a day. At this point, the one-hour cruises retrace their route back up the Channel. The longer trips continue on through the outer harbour, the US Navy Shipyard, up the Terminal Island Channel, and back across the top through the Cerritos Channel.

The Long Beach Navy yard began a run-down in 1995, and finally closed in 1997. The only occupants today are one or two vessels of the reserve fleet. In the early nineties, it was a magnificent sight to see the many warships undergoing overhaul or refit. One of the yards longest-serving utilities was the giant crane known as HERMAN THE GERMAN. Captured after the war it arrived at Los Angeles in 1946. With a lifting capacity of 386 tons it was one of four such cranes built at Bremerhaven in 1941. One had been taken by the Russians, one by the USA, and one by Great Britain. The fourth crane was sunk by the allies at Hamburg. Britain’s crane capsized and sank when it was being moved across the channel. In 1997, HERMAN was sold for use in Panama.

Los Angeles Harbour is the final resting place of the QUEEN MARY. Under the command of her last Captain, John Treasure-Jones, she had arrived at Long Beach on 9th December 1967 bringing to an end an illustrious career of 31 years. Converted into a floating hotel, convention centre, and tourist attraction, she is now permanently moored at the Pier J tourist complex. Captain Treasure Jones passed away in 1993 at the age of 86.

The short transit of the Terminal Island Channel offers much interest. There are bulk ships at the cement berths, opposite which is the end of the Alaskan Oil Pipeline. This runs for several thousand miles from its point of origin to terminate at Long Beach. Here also is the floating headquarters of Foss Maritime, alongside which there are always several types of tugs.

We pass under the Desmond Bridge, immediately below which is the Long Beach fireboat station. Turning left, we enter the Cerritos Channel. This runs for several miles across the top of the port, connecting Long Beach with San Pedro and terminating in the turning basin at the top of the San Pedro Channel. Again, there is much of interest. An amazing sight is to see how much below water level, the land bordering the channel has sunk. Over the years many millions of barrels of oil were removed, causing massive subsidence. Factories and facilities had dropped many feet, but incredibly stayed level without damage.

A wide variety of yachts, houseboats, powerboats, and dinner-cruise replica sailing vessels line the channel. Being much further from the outer harbour, the berthing fees are substantially lower than those at San Pedro or Long Beach. Halfway down the channel, two bridges run side-by-side. The old Helm Bridge has long been referred to as the Henry Ford Bridge, because its main function was to feed the one-time Ford Factory building the “Model T” Ford cars. A newer bridge now runs alongside, and the disused Helm Bridge is due for demolition.

On the left side of the channel lay more container terminals, including that of Matson Line. Quite often, ships of Blue Star, and various Far-eastern companies can be seen berthed here. We pass yet another fireboat station, and the berths used by the large car-carriers. This in turn brings us once more back to the Turning basin and the return route down the San Pedro Channel to Ports O’ Call. There is so much to see and do in the port area, that this brief description could not possibly do it justice. The only way is to go, and see for yourself.

by Albert Novelli
April 2001