Updates on shoreside power Restoration
May 2026:
- Leed electric is the general contractor
- Contractor will mobilize Q3 of 2026
- Demolition of existing facility will begin Q3 of 2026
- Procurements of state-of-the-art electrical equipment (switchgears, transformers) is in process
- There are long lead times for delivery of crucial electrical equipment’s
September 2025:
- North Terminal: permits acquired from City of Port Hueneme. Awaiting bids to be submitted by end of the month.
- South Terminal Rebuild: Drawing finalized. City of Port Hueneme followed up with additional questions/comments; follow-up to be resubmitted to the city by end of September.
- Project is expected to go out to bid by end of September.
June 2025:
- North Terminal shorepower project went out to bid on 6/2/25. Bids expected to be due by end of September.
May 2025
- Port reviewed and responded to City questions. Port resubmitted designs to City and anticipates Permits to be issued by City in June or July for both South and North Terminal. Once City permits received Port will put projects out to bid.
March and April 2025
- City review ongoing for both South and North Terminal shorepower projects in parallel.
February 2025
- For the South Terminal Shoreside Power, the Design is under review by the City of Port Hueneme Community and Economic Development Department.
January 2025
- For the South Terminal Shoreside Power, the design is 90% completed and the permitting process has started with the City of Port Hueneme.
December 2024
- Disaster relief funding request has been approved by the State to support the rebuild efforts through the California Disaster Assistance Act (CDAA).
- Soil samples have been taken for the geotechnical analysis as a mitigation measure for the new and improved system
- Engineering team designing the new system have reached 60% design, an are now progressing toward 80%.
August 2024
- Engineering team designing the new shorepower system have reached 40% design, and are now progressing toward 60%.
- The first of the Port’s emergency funding requests from the California Office of Emergency Services was approved. Several more are in process and seek to be approved in the coming months.
July 2024
- The Port of Hueneme along with H3 Engineering have begun design of the new and improved South Terminal Shore Power system.
- The redesign will incorporate mitigation measures (raising the foundation and inclosing the system) so that this storm damage does not happen again to this important system.
- We are anticipating an 18-month construction period to get the system back up and running after the design phase is complete.
June 2024
- On June 24, the Board of Harbor Comissioners approved to secure the services of STAX Engineering for emissions control and bonnet barge system technology and for the CEO to go into negotiations for rates and other relevant terms and conditions.
April 2024
- CalOES approved the Port’s application for emergency funding
Background
The Port of Hueneme, one of the pioneering West Coast ports in adopting Shoreside Power for cargo vessels, faced substantial setbacks following severe damage to its Shoreside Power System during an unprecedented rain and flooding event on December 21 and 22, 2023.
Torrential rainfall, exceeding three inches per hour, impacted the City of Port of Hueneme and surrounding communities, leading to substantial damage and flooding to the Port’s Shoreside Power System—a storm well in excess of the 1,000-year storm event threshold.
Throughout the 48-hour storm, Port crews worked tirelessly to pump water away from the system. However, the overwhelming volume of water and converging stormwater flows from the local community and Naval Base Ventura County exacerbated the situation, resulting in significant flooding. The Port, working in concert with Southern California Edison, promptly deactivated power to the shoreside power electrical infrastructure to ensure the safety of its staff, labor and the community, however the system was severely damaged by the flood waters.
Internal and external engineering teams including Schneider Electric, Southern California Edison, H3 Engineering and CAL-OES have conducted thorough assessments of the electrical systems and have determined the system is beyond repair and needs full replacement. Projected costs to rebuild the system are upwards of $30 million to $40 million.
The Port quickly began to respond as our Board of Harbor Commissioners days later approved an Emergency Proclamation to facilitate our response and the Governor issued a Proclamation of State Emergency a few weeks later to integrate State Emergency response work to the flooding disaster in Ventura County.
Commitment to Community:
Over the last 14 years this equipment helped reduce emissions from ocean going vessels by as much as 80%! That means cleaner air for port adjacent communities such as the City of Port Hueneme and South Oxnard.
We will continue to be innovative and creative in funding and rebuilding this shoreside power system; whether it’s emergency relief funds, public private partnership, or something else— We will figure it out and we will be back online as soon as we can!
As we respond we will continue to learn to adapt to climate change driven storm events and share our lessons learned to others who will need them.
CDAA Funding
The State of California has approved California Disaster Assistance Act funding for the December 21st storm event. CDAA is a public assistance type grant process that allows for eligible entities to apply for the funding to rebuild and recovery from approved disasters. The Port has submitted its request for CDAA funding to rebuild the shore power infrastructure. The State of California Office of Emergency Services will work with the Port throughout the recovery process and support a 75% cost coverage with the Port matching a 25% cost share.
Common Questions and Answers:
Electrical infrastructure experts are telling us it could take as long as 1.5 years to have all of the needed equipment delivered, assembled and powered up.
The Port team is working every day to apply for the required funding, coordinate with the engineering experts in the design and construction of these complex electrical infrastructure systems to design the new system, communicate with the community and local officials.
The Port is working to determine the feasibility of a barge based filter system to be brought to the Port to physically filter emissions directly from the ship’s exhaust stack. This system has been tested on much larger vessels in the Port of Los Angeles, but there are only a handful of these systems worldwide!
The Port will update this site with the latest information on a monthly basis.
Dec 21, 22 2023 – Storm Event
12/27/23 -12/29/2023 - Port Emergency Declaration and Adoption
1/23/3024 - State Emergency Declaration
3/13/2023 - CDAA Applicants Briefing
3/21/2024 - Port Applies for CDAA
4/2/2024 - CAL-OES CDAA application Approval
5-7/2024 - CDAA CAL-OES Kick Off Meeting
7/11-Current - CDAA Disaster Survey Request Project Efforts
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