Over $46 million in grants awarded to support electrification at U.S. ports

Recent multi-million-dollar grants in the U.S. from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are slated to support electrification efforts at and near several U.S. port facilities.

Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT) in Long Beach, Calif., announced it has received a $34.9 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to replace 155 on-terminal trucks and buses with zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) and build the necessary on-site charging infrastructure. In a separate announcement, charging infrastructure operator Voltera said that its sites near the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles and Savannah, Ga. will receive $9.6 million in FHWA funding to build electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities, while its location in Wilmington, Calif., will receive $1.8 million.

Electrification at LBCT

LBCT said the grant dollars will allow it to continue its multi-billion dollar investments in sustainability.

The Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT). (Photo: LBCT)

“Our vehicle electrification project, coupled with previous investments, enables LBCT to achieve a unique status that is reframing the way the world views sustainable goods movement, enhancing community quality of life and climate change,” said Anthony Otto, LBCT chief executive officer.

The LBCT grant — provided via the Reduction of Truck Emissions at Port Facilities program, which is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — was secured with the help of U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia. He described LBCT as one of the cleanest port terminals in the U.S.

“This investment is a huge win for clean air, electrification and the region,” he said. “These federal dollars will make our port cleaner, safer and help us meet our climate goals.”

LBCT said it would match the FHWA grant with funding of its own to support the $44 million LBCT Electrification Advancement Project (LEAP).

Power Progress reported in 2018 that the Port of Long Beach was embarking upon a project to implement zero-emissions cranes and cargo handling equipment at its terminals. LBCT said that over the past 15 years, the organization has invested more than $2.5 billion to convert its cranes and cargo-handling vehicles to electric equipment. It’s an effort LBCT said has led to an 86 percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) and criteria pollutant emissions.

In its 2023 progress report on achieving net zero emissions by 2030, LBCT said the organization was recipient of over $67 million in federal and state grant funds during the previous 12 months, which supported investment in “104 pieces of zero emission, human-operated terminal equipment and more than 100 electric charging units.”

Voltera Charging Infrastructure

Regarding the funding awarded to Palo Alto, Calif.-based Voltera, the company said the grants will support the company’s vision of electrifying the country’s ports. The projects will help freight operations transition to net zero emissions, Voltera said, as designated by the U.S. Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy.

Electric drayage trucks charging at one of Voltera’s port charging stations (Photo: Business Wire)

“Having a roadmap in terms of how to roll out freight corridors allows us to catalyze a lot of investment from the private sector to complement the incentives that the government has provided,” said Matt Horton, CEO of Voltera.

According to Voltera, its Savannah location, developed in partnership with Georgia Power, will have over 120 charging stalls to accommodate Class 8 electric drayage trucks serving the Port of Savannah. It will deliver up to 23MW of charging capacity.

The Wilmington site is adjacent to connection routes to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Voltera said. It will have 20 charging stalls for Class 8 electric trucks and provide as much as 4MW of charging capacity. According to Voltera, the site has also received funding from the South Coast Air Quality Management District of the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

U.S. Rep. Nanette Barragán called the Voltera grants good news for the communities the company serves.

“We struggle with unhealthy air and negative public health impacts from port pollution, much of it from the thousands of diesel-burning trucks that bring goods to and from the Port of Los Angeles every day,” she said, adding that the funding will help “reduce emissions at our port, create good paying jobs and improve our communities’ public health.”

Voltera said it has 21 charging projects underway throughout the U.S.

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