Contact: Mike Giari, Executive Director, 650-306-4150, mgiari@redwoodcityport.com
REDWOOD CITY — The closest seaport to Silicon Valley, which has its roots in the Gold Rush era, is embarking on a 21st-century makeover.
The Port of Redwood City has begun environmental review for a $15 million project to update its aging facilities. Port officials plan to replace one of its major wharves, a dilapidated wooden structure in use for the past 60 years, with a 1,400-foot-long reinforced concrete structure where ships will be loaded and unloaded.
Other aspects of the renovation project include a new road parallel to the wharf, an employee center, 12-foot sea wall, improved security lighting and a modernized electrical system. Two other wharf structures about 30 years old will also be demolished and updated. Port officials hope to attract up to $12 million in federal stimulus funds to defray project costs.
The port primary focus to date is on importing construction materials for Silicon Valley and Bay Area projects as well as exporting metal scrap to Asia for steel manufacturing.
After the environmental assessment and engineering work has been completed and permits obtained, construction work is expected to begin mid-2010 and wrap up by summer 2011, according to Michael J. Giari, the port’s executive director.
“This will increase our port’s flexibility, although we will continue to handle many of the same materials,” said Giari, “and all of those materials will be more efficiently handled.”
The project will produce jobs sorely needed during a downturn, although Giari said it’s too early to estimate how many will result from the construction phase. It will also prepare the 130-acre port — which includes a 90,000-square-foot business park, 12,000-square-foot conference center, restaurant and private boat marina — for an upturn in activity when the economic tide turns.
Port volume is predicted to hit the 4 million-ton level by 2020, according to a report by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. And port and city officials envision Redwood City playing an integral role in upgraded commuter ferry and emergency transportation plans being formulated by the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority. The Alviso district of north San Jose, which once had a port, is also included in those plans
Right now, however, things are headed in the opposite direction. As with other ports locally and nationwide, downturn that began last year has taken its toll on Port of Redwood City operations. Overall volume dropped 34 percent during fiscal 2009, which ended June 30. The total of 990,000 tons was substantially below fiscal 2008’s total of about 1.5 million tons.
The struggling economy is the common factor for all of the ports. But in Redwood City the decreased volume largely stems from the severe downturn in the construction industry.
Pat Webb, Redwood City’s housing and economic development manager, said the port is a big plus.
“It’s an economic development engine for the city,” Webb said. “The most significant thing they can do to keep the port in good shape is to dredge, because it is a shallow port, but having good docks is very important, too.”
Port officials agree. They just finished dredging the bay near the port earlier this year and secured $4 million of the $787 billion in federal stimulus funds, officially known as American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to keep the port area at 30 feet in depth, Giari said.
Port is major asset to Redwood City
The port, which started out as a ship-building center in the 1850s before transforming itself into a commercial port in the 1880s, came under municipal control in 1937. As it has grown in size over the years, the port has become a major asset to Redwood City’s business community and city coffers, contributing $325,000 during fiscal 2008-09, according to Brian Ponty, the city’s finance director.
Though the port itself has only 10 employees, Giari said major companies located in and around the port make it a major job center for the city.
Cemex USA is the U.S. division of Monterrey, Mexico-based Cemex SAB, one of the world’s largest producers of cement, ready-mix concrete, and rock and gravel products known as “aggregate.” Sims Metal Management Ltd. is a New York-based ferrous metals recycler, with a major plant on Monterey Road in San Jose. The two companies employ between 300 to 400 people at any given time at the port, he said.
Jennifer H. Borgen, director of communications for Cemex USA in Houston, said her company is anxious for the wharf improvements to be made.
“The new wharf will increase the throughput capacity at the port by enabling it to unload two ships at the same time, making the process even more efficient,” Borgen said. “Currently, when a ship is at berth unloading cement or construction aggregates, the vessel with the other commodity cannot be simultaneously accommodated. This new wharf will help resolve scheduling conflicts, cut down on wait times and reduce costs.”
David Goll can be reached at 408.299.1853 or dgoll@bizjournals.com.