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Vol. 37 No. 5 A monthly publication of the Los Angeles District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers December 2007
 Port of Los Angeles celebrates its centennial
By Greg Fuderer and Daniel J. Calderón
With timeline information provided from the
Port of Los Angeles Web site (www.portoflosangeles.org)
The Port of Los Angeles (POLA) celebrated its centennial Dec 9. In 1907, POLA was officially established with its first Board of Harbor Commissioners.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District has been involved with POLA throughout its history and continues that partnership today.
In a way, the L.A. District was born alongside the port. The Corps of Engineers created the Los Angeles District with Capt. James J. Meyler, CE, as the first District Engineer in 1891. The district was created to facilitate the construction of the harbor in recognition of its great impact on the city of Los Angeles.
The creation of the largest man-made harbor in the world out of swamp and overflow land was one of the major challenges for the district. The first authorization for the improvement of the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors came with the River and Harbors Act of June 8, 1896. Work on the breakwater began on Aug. 12, 1898. This was the first major step in establishing the Port of Los Angeles as a major seaport on the West Coast.
By 1907, the POLA was thriving. This helped lead to the establishment of the board to help monitor and regulate activity. In response to the thriving port and area around, the communities of Wilmington and San Pedro voted themselves into Los Angeles.
By 1911, Los Angeles had title to the tidal and submerged land within the “consolidated city.” This gave the city nearly absolute control and ownership of the harbor and waterfront. This helped clear the way for the city, with the full cooperation of the Los Angeles District, to establish one of the greatest man-made harbors in the world.
The Corps’ dredging program includes maintenance of the entrance channels to the Port of Los Angeles. That responsibility takes into account the occasional need to create deeper channels to accommodate the deeper draft vessels of evolving shipping fleets.
Currently, the Corps is deepening the main channel from the current depth of -45 feet to -53 feet. Deepening the channel will accommodate vessels entering international maritime commerce with drafts that extend beyond the current limit, and improve navigation safety and shipping efficiencies.
In 2000, the Port of Los Angeles dedicated Pier 400. The pier is a 590-acre site built to enable the port to handle the new generation of cargo facilities. It exists because the Corps dredged 58 million cubic yards of material to deepen channels within the port and used that material to create additional land within the port.
At the time, U.S. Rep. Stephen Horn wrote, "The Corps of Engineers was instrumental in making the ports we know today. One of the Corps' primary mandates is to ensure the navigability of America's waterways. Pier 400 is a shining example of this mission and a model of federal, state and local cooperation."
He concluded, "The Port of Los Angeles and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can be proud of their exemplary achievement in completing Pier 400, the largest federally-sponsored navigation project of its kind in the United States.”
Timeline of the history of the Port of Los Angeles
From the Port of Los Angeles Web site (www.portoflosangeles.org)
• 1542: Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovered the "Bay of Smokes." Little did he know that the desolate tidal flats would be transformed into one of the largest, busiest and most successful manmade harbors in the world. Tidal flats and marshes remained pristine for more than 200 years largely because Europe was concentrating its New World colonization on America's East Coast.
• 1771: Spanish explorers established a mission 40 miles inland from San Pedro. Mission monks were first traders to use the harbor. The Spanish prohibited settlers from conducting business with other countries, restricting their trade to two ships a year carrying goods from Spain's House of Trades. Despite restrictions, San Pedro prospered.
• 1805: The Leila Byrd was the First American trading ship to call at San Pedro, bringing sugar, textiles and household goods in exchange for otter pelts and provisions.
• 1822: Independent Mexican government lifted oppressive restrictions. San Pedro became a robust commercial center and an attractive home for new settlers.
• 1848: California under American control. Business at San Pedro harbor booming. Evident that harbor needed to be expanded to accommodate increasing cargo volume for a growing Los Angeles population.
• 1850: Phineas Banning began the first of a lifetime of ventures that earned him the name, "Father of Los Angeles Harbor." Ventures included a freight and passenger transportation business and the founding of Wilmington, adjacent to the wharf he built to serve his business empire. Among other achievements, Banning provided valuable assistance to the Union cause during the Civil War and, as a state senator, introduced the first railroad bill to the California legislature.
• 1869: Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad began service between the bay and Los Angeles. This 21-mile stretch of track was the first railroad in Southern California and marked the beginning of a new era of development for the harbor area.
• 1871: Main Channel dredged to -10 feet. Breakwater built between Rattlesnake Island (now Terminal Island) and Deadman's Island (formerly located near Terminal Island).
• 1885: Commerce in San Pedro skyrocketing. Port handling 500,000 tons of import and export cargo annually.
• 1897: Great free-harbor fight settled. Rear Admiral John C. Walker recommended that port development continue in San Pedro, dashing plans for port development further up the coast and setting the stage for the modern era of the Port of Los Angeles.
• 1906: City of Los Angeles annexed a 16-mile strip of land on the outskirts of San Pedro and Wilmington — towns that three years later would join the City of Los Angeles.
• 1907: Port of Los Angeles officially founded with the creation of the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners.
• 1911-12: First 8500-foot section of the breakwater completed. Main Channel widened to 800 feet and dredged to -30 feet. Southern Pacific Railroad completed its first major wharf in San Pedro.
• 1914: Panama Canal opened. As the nearest major American port northwest of the Panama Canal, the Port of Los Angeles became the natural port-of-call for most transpacific and coastal users.
• 1920s: Dynamic growth for the Port, marked by a boom in petroleum, lumber and citrus trade. For the first time in history, Los Angeles surpassed San Francisco as the West Coast's busiest seaport and ranked second only to New York in foreign export tonnage.
• 1937: Construction of the 18,500-foot-long extension of the middle breakwater completed. World War II: Shipbuilding quickly became the Port's prime economic activity with shipyards collectively employing more than 90,000 workers.Post World War II: Cargo containers adopted into commercial use, changing the industry forever.
• 1959: Matson Navigation Company's Hawaiian Merchant made its first shipment of 20 cargo containers, marking the beginning of the containerized cargo revolution. Car carriers also became common during this period.
• 1960s: Financially infeasible, and in many cases impossible, for large ships to pass through the Panama Canal. One viable and economical solution was the creation of a landbridge from the Port of Los Angeles to destinations throughout the US via trucks and trains.
• 1983: Port completed dredging of the Main Channel to -45 feet.
• 1985: Port handled one million containers in a year for the first time. Four years later, container traffic exceeded two million containers.
• 1986: Port opens the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility, providing for the rapid transfer of containers from the Port's marine terminals to trains.
• 1994: Dredging for Pier 300/400 begins, the largest capital improvement undertaking of any US seaport and the Port's most ambitious development project since its founding.
• 1996: The Los Angeles City Council designated the Vincent Thomas Bridge as the City’s Official Welcoming Monument in 1996.
• 1997: APL Limited's Global Gateway South opens. Considered to be one of the world's largest and most technologically advanced ocean and rail container terminals. The Terminal Island Container Transfer Facility is also completed, responding to the needs of Evergreen and NYK Line for on-dock intermodal capability. This 47-acre facility allows for the direct transfer of containers to and from ships and railcars.
• 1999: World's largest shipping line, Maersk Sealand, commits to be the Port's first customer at Pier 400. New partnership estimated to bring the Port $2 billion over a 25-year lease. APM Terminals (a division of Maersk) is currently the only Port tenant located on Pier 400.
• 2000: Completion of Pier 400 Dredging and Landfill Program, the largest such project in America, a significant milestone in positioning the Port to accommodate the tremendous growth in international trade well into the 21st century.
• 2006: Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach jointly release the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan. This historical plan aims to reduce emissions by 50 percent over the next five years. The Port of Los Angeles set itself as an environmental steward and model for ports around the globe.
• 2007: The Port of Los Angeles celebrates its Centennial Celebration!
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 Congratulations to Joel Rodriguez, new Project Engineer for the Flagstaff Project Office. Joel served as the office engineer for the Roadrunner Resident Office for almost five years before his recent promotion, working out of the Rio Salado project office and the Las Vegas resident office.
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