The Port of Oakland is the primary and only bulkhead container port for the San Francisco Bay region and northern California. It is the fifth largest in the United States based on TEU cargo volume.
The purpose of this presentation is to describe the Port of Oakland’s Vision 2000 Middle Harbor Basin Projects (MHB Projects) as an example of how a port can work with nature to achieve its navigation efficiency and capability enhancement goals in concert with its environmental and community goals. The MHB Projects are also discussed as a case study in the PIANC Working with Nature (WWN) Work Group #176 Report currently in the Envicom review process prior to publication scheduled in 2018. ***
The MHB Projects evolved with the Port of Oakland’s Year 2000 Vision Plan. The Plan was a $1.2 billion capital expansion plan to build a new modern port for the 21st century. It included several projects to fulfill both the Port’s navigation mission by modernizing its terminals and deepening the Inner Harbor shipping channel; and its community and environmental stewardship goals by creating a public park space and shallow water habitat.
The Vision 2000 navigation projects included the dredging of the federal channel from -42’ to -50’; building two new marine terminals, a joint inter-modal rail terminal, realignment of roadways, and conversion of the closed Oakland Army Base to maritime use.
The Vision 2000 community and environmental projects were: 1) a 38-acre Middle Harbor Shoreline Park (MHSP); and 2) a 181-acre Middle Harbor Enhancement Area (MHEA): a shallow water fish and wildlife habitat area to be created by beneficially reusing the approximately 5-6 MCY of sand and mud from the proposed -50’ channel deepening project.
This presentation will explain the process of how the Port followed the basic WWN template in the implementation of its Vision 2000 projects: Step I: Establish project goals and objectives; Step 2: Understand the Environment; Step 3: Make meaningful use of stakeholder engagement; Step 4: Prepare project proposal/design to benefit navigation and nature; Step 5: Build/Implement; Step 6: Monitor, adapt, manage
The Vision 2000 plan called for a new modern port to ensure the Port of Oakland’s future economic and environmental success. This meant expanding the Port’s shipping operational capacity and improving its cargo handling efficiency while simultaneously achieving its environmental and local community recreational goals. This presentation will be of interest to both PIANC members and attendees as it highlights a universal challenge for ports and the maritime industry to succeed on multi lateral fronts in the 21st century and illustrates the path to success by working with nature.(based on PIANC's WWN position paper revised in 2011)
***PIANC published a position paper, first in 2008 and later revised in 2011 that describes the Working with Nature (WWN) philosophy. The position paper defined the WWN concept and discussed how the approach can be applied to navigation and port infrastructure. The WWN approach provides a basis for maximizing opportunities for working with natural processes to deliver environmental restoration results that go beyond just avoiding or compensating environmental impacts. The Position Paper did not discuss tools and practices, and hence PIANC established Working Group #176 to write a Report describing WWN tools and practices.