User:Southern Playerlistic/sandbox

Port of Sacramento

MarinerMasino

Port of Sacramento

BRIEF HISTORY- Construction of the Port of Sacramento was first approved by Congress on as the River and Harbor Act of July 24, 1946. This act approved the construction of the Sacramento River Deep Water Shipping Channel, a 43 mile long shipping channel from Suisun Bay to an inland harbor at Washington Lake. The project started construction 3 years later in 1949 and the port was opened to deep sea traffic in 1963. (https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=b5ccdb0975095a256534f0393a80b039&tab=core&_cview=0) (http://www.cityofwestsacramento.org/about/history.asp) OPERATIONS- Since July 1, 2013 the port and its operations are being leased by SSA Marine from the Port of Sacramento for a minimum of 5 years for a minimum annual payment of $650,000. This move by the port is intended to allow it to shift focus on developing its other available real estate assets, and further the growth of the port. It also transfers all liabilities and operational expenses to SSA Marine. (http://ezproxy.csum.edu:2089/docview/1353217933/3CC72B518DE94F30PQ/1?accountid=10353 ) CARGO- The Port of Sacramento does not receive the high volume of ships that other California ports handle. This is mainly due to the fact that the Port of Sacramento is a “Non-Container” port. The majority of all shipping worldwide is done by container ships and the fact that the Port of Sacramento is not set up to handle this type of cargo cuts it out of a large percentage of port traffic. The Port of Sacramento’s cargo is mainly of the agricultural, industrial and heavy equipment type, and the port specializes in bulk cargo. This works out well for the port because of its location in a dense agricultural region. Some of the ports’ main cargo is the exportation of local agriculture  such as rice, barley, wheat, almonds and corn along with other local products such as lumber, cement, clay and metals. The Port of Sacramento is also set up to handle heavy machinery such as wind turbines, steel, generators and transformers. (http://dot.ca.gov/hq/tpp/offices/ogm/ships/Fact_Sheets/Port_of_West_Sacramento_Fact%20Sheet_073012.pdf) RECENT- Recently in partnership with the ports of Oakland and, Stockton the Port of Sacramento has received a $30 million dollar award from the U.S. Department of Transportation (D.O.T.) as part of its America’s Marine Highway Program. This program is designed to increase the amount of goods transported across the U.S. on ships and therefore decrease the amount transported by trucks and rail. This is thought to have many environmental and economic benefits. This funding will be used to start a movement of containers between all three of these ports. The Port of Sacramento has since used a portion of this funding in order to give it the ability to accept containers. The main thing they have done is purchased a crane that will allow the containers to lift containers on and off the ships or barges. Sacramento has high hopes for its port to increase its cargo traffic and economic output with these advancements. (http://ezproxy.csum.edu:2089/docview/443564996/AF9A913B252A4EB3PQ/4?accountid=10353)

NEGATIVE IMPACTS Currently in most developed cities the impact of utilizing carbon based fuels and various other entities for utilization of consumption have created a growing trend. In addition, to consumerism the utilization of carbon fuels have also began to create a sense of awareness gathered around cleaner fuels thus raising the awareness of developed countries. In the state of California such trends could not displayed more transparent. With California being known as one of the most environmental friendliest states also comes a host of legislation to better prepare municipalities to limit if not totally reduce the effects of such impacts to natural concessions found through its diverse eco-system. The port of Sacramento is currently apart of such plans and as it result its experiencing a great deal of transition to better positions itself as not only a partaker in California green energy initiatives but also a standard for ports across the globe. Currently one of the most vital issues related to any port looking to deal with adequate volumes of cargo traffic is its ability to facilitate ships. The bigger the ship the more favorable a port is in its ability to withstand the demand of not only shipping clients but also those of the operators of large vessels. Among these circumstances underlie a great deal of challenges all ranging from traffic impact, environmental impacts, socio economic impacts and so forth. The port of Sacramento is defined by its ability to host ships and in order to host ships the ports must have specific channel depths. In order to keep up with such demands of depth a great deal of sediments are required to be moved placing a huge burden of aquatic ecosystems and terrestrial habits. According to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study entitled Affected Environmental Impacts and Environmental Impacts there is huge of amount of aspects to consider when opening a port. Mainly most of those impacts are related to wildlife, vegetation, species status, and pollution are to name of few. The port of Sacramento will be required to dredge its channel annually just to keep previous removed sediments from reforming in addition to creating greater depth all of which contribute significantly to environment and its aquatic ecosystems. In summation, for the reason mentioned above the port of Sacramento is making a strong move to lessen its impact and create a greater cohesive environment more suitable for lessoning its impact. Per the U.S. Corps of Engineering study the case has already been made to further the employment of solar panels and a numerous amount of green energy utilities to lighten the already heavy footsteps of carbon pollution. In addition, the annual requirements of dredging add a component only environmental agencies and government entities have begun to completely address. The least amount of impact the port of Sacramento can make upon the aquatic organisms which play a vital role in the entire environment the better the aspects of creating more efficient ports will be in the future to come.

Bibliography

Anonymous, (Feb. 18, 2010). Port of West Sacramento Receives Stimulus Funding for New Marine		 Highway. Business Wire. Retrieved from	http://ezproxy.csum.edu:2089/docview/443564996/AF9A913B252A4EB3PQ/4?accountid=1035	3 Anonymous, (May 20, 2013). SSA Signs Lease at Port of West Sacramento. Journal of Commerce. Retrieved from 	http://ezproxy.csum.edu:2089/docview/1353217933/3CC72B518DE94F30PQ/1?accountid=103	53 CalTrans. (2012). Freight Planning Fact Sheet for Port of West Sacramento. Retrieved from 	http://dot.ca.gov/hq/tpp/offices/ogm/ships/Fact_Sheets/Port_of_West_Sacramento_Fact%20S	heet_073012.pdf City of West Sacramento. (2014). History of West Sacramento. Retrieved from 	http://www.cityofwestsacramento.org/about/history.asp U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. (2008). Sacramento and Stockton Deep Water Ship Channels Dredging. Retrieved from 	https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=b5ccdb0975095a256534f0393a80b	039&tab=core&_cview=0