The Californian port of Hueneme has secured a $2m federal grant that will help it build a parking facility to store and process imported vehicle volumes prior to inland distribution by rail and truck.
The port estimates that when fully constructed the parking structure will have capacity for up to 8,000 parking bays, which would double Hueneme’s port capacity for vehicle staging at first/last point of rest. The facility will be located on the port’s North Terminal, where most ro-ro ships call throughout the year.
The Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) grant is part of a wider funding effort by the Department of Transportation Maritime Administration to decarbonise, upgrade and rehabilitate ports along the Californian coast, according to the port authority. It said that a total of $74.5m in grant funds will provide the opportunity to further fund and promote cleaner, energy efficient ports and stimulate a greener economy.
“As the nation’s sixth largest port specialising in the logistics of automobiles, this PIDP funding award to start the engineering plan to build a green parking structure on port is a welcome start for us to maximise the use of critical space to better serve the port’s customers and US consumer demand,” said Kristin Decas, CEO and port director. “With 23% of our automotive throughput being electric vehicles, we are excited to build capacity to best serve the rapidly emerging zero emission vehicle market.”
The parking structure funding will go toward the planning process that is needed to estimate the kind of investment cost that will take to build it, depending on types of structure, design, materials, model, environmental components implementation and permits needed.
“Once the study is completed, we will have a better picture of the investment type specifics, potential funding options, timeline and most importantly, when it could be completed,” said a spokesperson for Hueneme port.
Read more about activity at the North American vehicle handling ports
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