oil and boats
Looking out to the sea, I saw the towers, cranes, and platforms of offshore oil derriks. They stand as constant symbolic reminders of the history of this stretch of beach. Fifty years ago, the area north of Huntington Pier was an vast oil field equipped with tall wooden derriks. They were unsightly producers of smoke, stench and noise, and were eventually replaced by smaller, quieter equipment. The development boom, which gained momentum in the late 1970s and continues growing today, made it desirable to camoflage the oil equipment for aestetic value. Drilling which remained onshore has been largly hidden by concrete walls encircling city blocks, or by developments which surround the equipment. The tactics have worked. An uninformed visitor to the area could drive from the Santa Ana river delta to the southern base of the Bolsa Chica wetlands and see a booming beach community with no signs of the large scale oil production that first brought prosperityto the city.
Offshore operation remain in stark view. Six offshore rigs sit off the coast between Huntington Beach and the port at Long Beach. They are named Eureka, Ellen, Elly, Edith, Ester, Emma, and Eva. Emmy and Eva are the oldest of the family, installed in 1963 and 1964. Ester is the youngest, installed in 1990.
Beyond the oil machinery, I saw a row of boats. They were miles out to sea, but were clearly visable from the beach. They were cargo liners, giant platforms stacked with containers for shipping across land by truck or train. Containers were stacked fifteen wide and seven high on enourmous boats anchored while awaiting an open bearth at the Port of Long Beach, 30 miles up the coast from Huntington.
Monsterous boats from China cary consumer products. The amount of contianer shipping at the port of long beach since 1990 has more than doubled from an annual 1.6 million container units to 4.6 million units in 2003. In 2004 the port of long beach imported over $36 billion of consumer productst. The port's website stated that “East Asian trade accounts for more than 90% of the shippments through the port.”, and identified the port's top tading partners as China, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea, and Tiwan. Wall Mart stores was the port's biggest customer.
The sheer volume of imports, coupled with a shortage of longshore workers, caused a chokedamp, an ocean freighter trafic jam. Dozens of shipping boats anchored off shore, waiting for an open bearth in the ports. By mid October of 2004, ninty four of the giant vessiles were anchored, forming a line across the horizon. Turnaround times at the port exceeded seven days.
A commumity press release at the port of long beach's web site described the situation as having “looked like the Normandy invasion since early this summer.”
More Later
Copyright 2004 Travis R. English
Sources
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/etc/script.html
Love, M. S., D. M. Schroeder, and M. M. Nishimoto. 2003. The ecological role of oil and gas production platforms and natural outcrops on fishes in southern and central California: a synthesis of information. U. S. Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Seattle, Washington, 98104, OCS Study MMS 2003-032.
http://www.slc.ca.gov/Division_Pages/MRM/oilfacilities.htm
Offshore operation remain in stark view. Six offshore rigs sit off the coast between Huntington Beach and the port at Long Beach. They are named Eureka, Ellen, Elly, Edith, Ester, Emma, and Eva. Emmy and Eva are the oldest of the family, installed in 1963 and 1964. Ester is the youngest, installed in 1990.
Beyond the oil machinery, I saw a row of boats. They were miles out to sea, but were clearly visable from the beach. They were cargo liners, giant platforms stacked with containers for shipping across land by truck or train. Containers were stacked fifteen wide and seven high on enourmous boats anchored while awaiting an open bearth at the Port of Long Beach, 30 miles up the coast from Huntington.
Monsterous boats from China cary consumer products. The amount of contianer shipping at the port of long beach since 1990 has more than doubled from an annual 1.6 million container units to 4.6 million units in 2003. In 2004 the port of long beach imported over $36 billion of consumer productst. The port's website stated that “East Asian trade accounts for more than 90% of the shippments through the port.”, and identified the port's top tading partners as China, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea, and Tiwan. Wall Mart stores was the port's biggest customer.
The sheer volume of imports, coupled with a shortage of longshore workers, caused a chokedamp, an ocean freighter trafic jam. Dozens of shipping boats anchored off shore, waiting for an open bearth in the ports. By mid October of 2004, ninty four of the giant vessiles were anchored, forming a line across the horizon. Turnaround times at the port exceeded seven days.
A commumity press release at the port of long beach's web site described the situation as having “looked like the Normandy invasion since early this summer.”
More Later
Copyright 2004 Travis R. English
Sources
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/etc/script.html
Love, M. S., D. M. Schroeder, and M. M. Nishimoto. 2003. The ecological role of oil and gas production platforms and natural outcrops on fishes in southern and central California: a synthesis of information. U. S. Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Seattle, Washington, 98104, OCS Study MMS 2003-032.
http://www.slc.ca.gov/Division_Pages/MRM/oilfacilities.htm
posted by travinator @ 8:35 AM
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