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Environmental rules drive Cosco from Port of Los Angeles to Long Beach

CHINA Cosco Shipping Corp is shifting its cargo away from the port of Los Angeles to Long Beach, where its terminal is subject easier environmental rules.

Cosco said it "made a strategic decision to move cargo away from our Berth 100 port of Los Angeles to their terminal in Long Beach because they have less stringent mitigation measures at that facility," said LA port manager Gene Seroka, reported Long Beach Press Telegram.

The announcement came a day before Los Angeles was set to release an environmental report stemming from a 2001 lawsuit involving China Shipping LA terminal expansion.

The lawsuit had imposed tough pollution cutting measures established in an environmental document in 2008. But in 2015, the port revealed several of those clean air mandates had not been met.

Required non-diesel burning trucks never showed up at the terminal as pledged and ships weren't plugging in to clean electricity for shore power at the rates required.

At the time, Mr Seroka blamed past management and noted that some of the demands couldn't be met because of cost and technology.

Lawyer David Pettit at the Natural Resources Defence Council, which brought the lawsuit on behalf of residents and local groups, said he fears the new plan will be "a lot of big talk and no enforceability".

'the narrative is going to be we can't do everything that environmentalists want us to do because it's going to cost jobs and money."

For Long Beach the news of China Shipping's shift was welcome. President of Long Beach's harbour commission, Lori Ann Guzman, said: "We are known as the green port, to suggest that we have less stringent environmental standards is inaccurate. We have superior customer service and an outstanding relationship with the clients. This is a testament to that."

While both ports adhere to clean air goals to decrease smog forming emissions from diesel engines, newly expanded or modified terminals have additional rules.

That's part of the reason Mr Seroka can make the claim that Long Beach's terminal doesn't have the same environmental restrictions. The Long Beach terminal hasn't sought an expansion for more than two decades, officials said. And because of that, it's not subject to more regulations.