New redevelopments are expected at the Howard Terminal after the potential baseball proposal gets squashed.
Last month, the Oakland A’s announced that they signed a binding agreement to buy land in Las Vegas for their new baseball stadium. With this announcement, relocation is happening and thus brings an end to the potential talk of developing Howard Terminal being developed into their new stadium.
Redevelopments for Howard Terminal
The Howard Terminal is shifting their focus from a potential new professional baseball stadium being built there, to now looking at redevelopment projects that will further enhance the terminal.
So, why isn’t this terminal being rebuilt into a modern container terminal?
“The Howard Terminal is too small to be rebuilt into a modern container terminal,” Danny Wan, Executive Director at the Port of Oakland has stated in regards to that question.
One thing the terminal plans to focus on is the development of the 50-acre site for maritime support activities. Other potential projects could possibly include a focus on overnight truck parking and temporary storage of dry and refrigerated containers.
Back during the peak of the pandemic when cargo volumes were rising and terminals were working at max capacity, the terminal was largely used as a staging area for trucks and containers.
Now, the terminal is being considered as a possible staging site for dozens of smaller trucking companies that are based in Northern California. This would allow more fluidity at the port and those trucking companies would be able to park their trucks overnight in
There’s also the possibility that truck charging stations could be built at the Howard Terminal, as the drayage industry is moving toward a zero-emission fleet.
Additionally, Oakland also plans to use their location to increase their advantage as the largest U.S. port for refrigerated exports.
The Howard Terminal is equipped with plugs for refrigerated containers, which is ideal for temporary storage of reefer containers that have frozen and chilled products, until they are loaded onto vessels.
Looking Ahead
It certainly is a bummer for those loyal Oakland sport fans for having yet another local team move out of the city. As the Golden State Warriors moved from Oakland to San Francisco in 2019, and the Raiders moved from Oakland to Las Vegas the following year.
Though, some stakeholders in the shipping industry never thought building a ballpark at the terminal site was a good idea. But, some groups, such as the East Oakland Stadium Alliance, still supported the A’s building a new ballpark at their current ballpark, the Oakland Coliseum. Of course, now, that’s not going to happen anymore due to the new binding agreement the A’s have for a stadium in Las Vegas.
Should you have any questions regarding this and how it could impact your shipments, please reach out to our team today.
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