Port of San Francisco today announced it has reached an agreement with Hanson Aggregates Mid-Pacific to extend the term of the current marine terminal agreement through 2013, with options for an additional ten-year extension. The company’s annual revenue to the Port is expected to exceed $1 million, representing over one million metric tons of cargo. Hanson expanded their marine terminal operations by an additional 126,000 square feet, for a total terminal area of nine acres.

"This agreement ensures that millions of tons of cargo and significant revenue will come to the Port," stated Port Maritime Director Peter Dailey. "Hanson’s commitment is good news for the City’s maritime industries, organized labor, and the environment."

Since September 1, 2000, Hanson has operated the maritime bulk cargo terminal at Pier 94 on a five-year marine terminal agreement. The company discharges and stores bulk shipments of aggregates at the southern waterfront facility. Aggregate is a natural resource and basic raw material used by the construction industry, and the demand for this material is expected to increase over the next twenty years.

The bulk cargo volume at the Port of San Francisco has grown approximately 45% in the past year (1,310,499 metric tons in 2002, up from 906,427 metric tons in 2001). In the past two years, the Port has signed contracts with three other bulk cargo customers: Mission Valley/Bode, Pacific Cement, and RMC.

A Port Maritime Cargo and Industrial Land Use study completed in 2001 showed that dry bulk cargoes, such as aggregates and other construction-related materials, represent the largest potential growth market for the Port in its cargo shipping market.

Aggregates are transported to Pier 94 via CSL International on its fleet of belt-conveyor self-unloading bulk cargo vessels. CSL International, based in Montreal, Canada, is the largest operator of self-unloading bulk cargo vessels in the world, with over 150 years of experience in the shipping industry and a fleet of 24 ships.

The majority of the aggregates shipped into San Francisco come from the region around Vancouver, British Columbia, where this natural material is in abundant supply. In the past, bulk aggregates were trucked into San Francisco from the East Bay, but now the ocean transport of this material will result in significantly less truck traffic on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.