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Casual observers of maritime activities in San Diego Bay are often surprised there's not more commercial freight activity on what appears at first glance to be one of the finest natural harbors in the world. First glances often are misleading, however.
The harshest criticism is leveled at the San Diego Unified Port District and retired Port Director Don L. Nay for emphasizing development of tourist facilities on Port property at the expense of the traditional commercial shipping business. "Seething" about Nay's administration, one critic was recently quoted as saying, "Concentrating on tourism knocked a lot of good jobs out." Perhaps, but how many jobs did it bring in?
In the interest of full disclosure, I should reveal that my law firm has a client pursuing an exciting plan for a portion of Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal, a project which will enhance redevelopment efforts already progressing in East Village, Barrio Logan and other adjacent areas. Also I should acknowledge that Nay is an old and valued friend of more than 35 years, stemming from our service together as deputy city attorneys in the early '60s. But this is not a column on my client's project or my old friend. It’s about realism.
There's much more to a successful commercial port than a good harbor. Geopolitics tells us to have a fine port, you need an exceptional hinterland. By definition, a hinterland is a "region behind a coast." In connection with an operating port, it’s the area that supports the port in terms of cargoes produced, consumed and shipped to and from the port. If you don’t have an area that produces and consumes sufficient goods, and the land-based means to transport them through the port efficiently, you’re not going to have a successful port.
As much as local boosters, politicians and others would like to ignore it, the Port of San Diego has practically no hinterland beyond San Diego County. The amount of goods and agricultural products produced and consumed in San Diego is insufficient to support port facilities such as those in Seattle, Oakland and Los Angeles/ Long Beach; all of which have huge regional hinterlands and the rail and highway networks supporting them.
Most freight moving through the Port of San Diego, and not coming to or from San Diego County, must pass through the Los Angeles/Orange County area on trains and trucks connecting it with points to the north and east. San Diego has no operating rail line to the east. The rail line to the north goes through Los Angeles. Interstate 8, which runs east, is a relatively high-altitude route, essentially two lanes each way, not easy for 18- wheelers. One of the Interstates to the north, I-15, has the same disability. Interstate 5 runs through Los Angeles. If you’re going to have to go through Los Angeles anyway, why not start there in the first place?
To make the position of the Port of San Diego even more miserable, the geographic fact is that it lies hundreds of miles farther away from ports on the other side of the Pacific Ocean when compared to other U.S. West Coast ports. The curvatures of coast and planet assure that dismal fact.
The prospect for maritime passenger (cruise) service is a little more hopeful. Recognizing the lack of exciting cruise destinations along the California Coast and century-old legislation limiting foreign-flag passenger service at American ports, our Port is actively pursuing so-called "positioning" cruises. This type of cruise peaks in the spring and fall as ships shift between Caribbean and Alaskan venues. Port Director Larry Killeen predicts we can attract between 40 and 60 such ships twice a year, a significant increase for San Diego, but a drop in the bucket compared with cruise operations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, San Juan and Vancouver.
If you’re charged with development of the tidelands lying adjacent to San Diego Bay, what do you do? State law limits tidelands use to commerce, navigation and fisheries. Hotels, restaurants and other tourist attractions fit the definition of commerce. If Port lands are to be made productive for the people of San Diego, they must lean heavily on tourist-oriented businesses. That's what the Port has done under Nay and Killeen, successfully keeping the district off the general tax rolls while providing parks and other amenities for all San Diegans, not just tourists.
It’s time to rethink commercial shipping operations on San Diego Bay. Planning under way for the North and South Embarcadero and the Tenth Avenue Terminal can make marine facilities part of the solution to the harbor's ills, rather than part of its problem.
The former San Diego city attorney, John Witt now serves as special counsel with the law firm of Lounsbery Ferguson Altona & Peak.
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