David C. Crammer
12640 Cowley
Downey, Ca. 90242

The following article on the Maersk Yard in Long Beach, California
appeared in the July/August 1994 issue of Rail Classics Volume 23,
Number 4.  The current issue has an article on the Southern Pacific
Sacramento traction motor and wheel shop.


     Approaching from the air it appears that the navy has placed
one of her largest aircraft carriers at the tip of Long Beach
Harbor. Not a floating landing field for planes it is new land
created on the ocean  its huge flat rectangular deck provides a home
for the newest railyard in the Los Angeles Basin.  Coming closer the
flatcars, some of them loaded with containers, can be seen strung
out on the tracks that ring the outer edge and a huge container ship
is being serviced by what appear to be giant insects.  This is Long
Beach Harbor's latest gateway to the Pacific Rim, Maersk Pacific LTD
on Pier  'J'.  The designing, planning and permit process for the
latest extension into the ocean began in 1984  and as part of the
agreement necessary to secure approval Long Beach Harbor created a
wetlands replenishment project at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons
Depot.  The actual construction began in September of 1988 with
Project Manager Dave Burditt overseeing the operation.  This
involved first dropping a ring of dike rock quarried from Catalina
which would total out to 2.3 million tons by the end of the project.
As the rock was ferried by barge and pushed over the edge by
bulldozer it formed  a basin on the ocean floor. Sand (the sand of
Long Beach is a  coarse sand suited for this purpose) was dredged
from the outlying channel and poured into the ring.  As the sand
rose more rock was dumped to raise the level until eventually it
rose to above water level.  As a result of the dredging the interior
of the channel was lowered to a depth of 76 feet below the water
making its entrance at Queen's Gate on the breakwater the deepest
deep water port in the world.  After the land was raised to the
desired height an additional 15 feet of sand was placed on top and
left in place for a year as a tamping device to compact the ground.
All in all 14 million cubic yards were dredged out in the project.
The top part of the earth was removed in June of 1991 to be set in
an adjacent part of Pier 'J' and now the ship berth and double
railyard construction began.  Richard Weeks took over from Dave at
this point doing the grading, paving, buildings, and ground cover.
The wharf part of the construction began in July of 1991 and
finished in June of 1992 and the yard construction finished in March
of 1993.  Total cost for the project came to $150 million including
the wetland replenishment and was entirely funded from harbor
revenue.
     By the time Maersk opened its new yard in Long Beach Harbor on
April 12, 1993 (official opening was on June 5th) technology had
advanced from the earlier days of on dock loading and Maersk
incorporated it into a state of the art facility.  On April 27th,
when the first train rolled over the tracks, the preparations were
put to the final test and passed with flying colors which in this
case were the blue and white of the Denmark based shipping company
and the red and white Danish flag.  That first train and all of the
subsequent ones rolled over the 136 lb rail (per yard) supported by
19,765 ties anchored down by Pandrol clips with the ties and clips
covered by asphalt except at switch points.  The Pandrol clips allow
for expansion at the curves on the weight of the cars but then after
the load has passed resume their former position unlike spikes which
are not flexible.  While the clips are more expensive than spikes
the ultimate reward is continued correct alignment of rails with
little maintenance and less of a chance of in yard derailment and
the resulting asphalt excavation to replace the spikes.  To protect
the wheels of the hostler tractors the points where they are
supposed to cross the rails have rubber padding installed.
     This attention to detail and planning for the future has been a
trademark of the Maersk organization which is in the business of
providing a convenient and easily accessible port for shippers to
interact with.  Under the watchful eye of Danish born vice president
J.D. Nielsen the yard functions as a coordinated entity dedicated to
its task.  Nine tracks in the yard provide space for 63 sets (5 to a
set) of flatcars.  The two entrance tracks branch into 4 tracks each
and one wraparound track extends halfway down the berth so that
Maersk is one of the few actual ondock railcar loading facilities in
the world. Most other operations claiming to be ondock are actually
near dock with hostler tractors bringing the offloaded containers to
the railcars for loading by cranes or top loaders.  At ITS, also at
Long Beach Harbor, the tractors maneuver the chassis under the
cranes and then either take the containers to the railcars or to an
assigned block for later loading.  At Maersk this is the usual
method,  but for heavy loads such as Caterpillar tractors the
railcar can be brought under the crane and lifted directly to the
ship on an open top container.  Since the PACECO cranes travel the
length of the dock on much heavier 176 lb rail the frog where the
rail cars and crane cross provides an interesting contrast in sizes.
In one case a 700,000 lb 500 kilovolt transformer  proved too much
of a load for the on dock crane and a floating crane had to be
brought next to the facility to provide the extra lift from the
ship to the 16-axle depressed enter flatcar as it sat next to the
dock.
     Using a 108 foot (cab height), a 105 foot and two 92 foot
PACECO cranes ships arriving at the berth can be unloaded with room
for three ships at a time.  With a depth of 45 feet at low tide and
48 at the approaches it allows large ships easy port access.
     Ships with containers for rail traffic arrive late
Wednesday/early Thursday and late Friday/early Saturday (another
ship arrives on Monday but is not intermodal).  Approximately 1000
containers are taken off and another 1000 sent for export on two of
the ships involved and a third ship handles between 600 and 700 each
way.  This means that as the ship is approaching trains and trucks
are bringing in containers against the ship and hauling away the
imports which makes for two 36 hour periods of hectic activity each
week that must be coordinated by the rail tower on the outer edge of
the yard.
     Southern Pacific handles the Sealand part of the contract while
Santa Fe provides its services for the  Maersk unit trains headed
east.  CSXI is the parent company of Sealand and provides the land
bridge across the country.  Previous to using the new Maersk
facility Their containers were landed at their terminal at 234 Long
Beach Harbor and brought up by teamsters to ICTF (Intermodal
Container Transfer Facility, the first train for Sealand from the
new Maersk facility was  on May 8, 1993).  The Sealand Intermodal
Manager notifies their representative at ICTF, Tracy Henderson, of
the container numbers which CSXI receives from Maersk.  CSXI has a
slot charter agreement for Pacific services with Maersk regarding
five of the ships that work between the far east and Long Beach, the
Luna Maersk, the Anna maersk, the Arthur Maersk, the Laust Maersk,
and the Anders Maersk.  These arrive only on Saturday and Maersk
gives the container information to CSXI on Wednesday so that
everything can be prepared.  After she is notified Tracy calls Marie
Amabisca who is ICTF's manager of terminal planning to let her know
how many flatcars will be needed.  Marie then calls Fleet Management
in Denver and informs Steve Marziano at the car distribution center.
Steve arranges for the cars to be sent, usually empties out of
Oakland but occasionally off of inbound trains.  Six days a week
(Sundays excepted) the OALBT brings down the empties.  These arrive
on Thursday morning if routed down the coast or afternoon if they
come down the valley.  Once at ICTF the car department takes over
and inspects them for any defects and makes the necessary repairs.
     Meanwhile Tracy has been on the phone with Maersk  To find out
the container sizes (20', 40', and 45') since different sizes
require different types of flats and a breakdown by destination.
She also finds out which tracks at Maersk they will be using, when
to spot them in, and when to pull them out.  These have to be
brought in during the available windows usually at noon when
operations shut down for lunch and at 5pm when shift changes are
taking place.  Everything set up at noon on Friday the trainmaster
at Dolores (Southern Pacific's yard in North Long Beach next to the
ICTF Yard) assigns a switch crew to take down the empty cars and
spot them.
     When it is time to bring the Sealand train out again another
crew out of Dolores will handle the operation and bring the loaded
flatcars to the assembly yard which sits south of the 405 Freeway
and next to Alameda Street beside the ICTF Yard.  If over 15 sets
are involved the train will be taken from there as a dedicated train
as soon as everything is inspected,  power attached and a crew
assembled.  While the train is in the assembly yard a clerk must
verify that all of the containers are on the proper flats and a
member of the car department conducts another inspection.  The
containers taken out of Maersk have three primary destinations.
     These are Chicago on the LBCHT, Memphis on the LBMFT, and the
CSX connection at New Orleans on the LBCXT.  On the Memphis and
Dallas trains the Sealand portion usually amounts to between two and
three sets per train.  Some of the flats may be folded into other
trains such as Dallas bound containers on the LBDAT and should the
LBCHT be less than 15 flats it will also probably be included with
another outbound train.  These trains may also stop at the City of
Industry to pick up locally loaded containers headed for the same
destinations.  Containers that are not handled by Sealand include
loaded reefers, hazardous material, and containers destined for
Mexico requiring a U.S. Customs seal.  Utilizing the on dock
capability at Maersk removes some of the pressure on SP's ICTF yard
since SP is able to pick up the train already assembled.
     Santa Fe has contracted with Maersk to provide them with a
dedicated "unit" train.  The "unit" train means that Santa Fe
provides the power for a non-stop trip east or west with reduced
transit time since there is no enroute switching or setting out at
secondary locations.  With this combination of Maersk and Santa Fe
the time from shipping point to destination in Chicago is 23 days
from Jakarta, 19 days from Singapore and 15 days from Hong Kong.
This is because the ships travel on a rotational basis of Long
Beach-Kaosiung-Singapore-Hong Kong-Long Beach.  From Hong Kong to
Long Beach is 12 days.  Eastbound shipments are finished goods and
westbound raw materials.
     Containers are blocked in the order the train will set them out
as a further guard against unnecessary delay on route.  The
eastbound train is the SLBCH (stack train Long Beach to Chicago) and
the westbound the SCVLB since it is usually combined with a train
coming out of Texas at Clovis, New Mexico.  To set up the Santa Fe
trains Don Driessen or Tony Veit, in charge of the rail operation,
will call the trainmaster at Watson Yard or at the Hobart Yard
office to give him a projection of what will be needed for the
incoming ship.  The trainmaster contacts Santa Fe's I.B.U
(Intermodal Business Unit) in Schaumburg, Illinois which assigns the
cars out of Los Angeles to met the Maersk requirements.  With this
system any additional empties that will needed can be tacked onto
the incoming  and routed through.   For loading purposes Maersk's
corporate office in Madison, New Jersy sets up the parameters for
what the various hubs will be and the tower sets up the train at its
own discretion based on these needs.
     On Friday August 13th Santa Fe was scheduled to bring in 150
containers and SP had already spotted empty refrigerated containers
on the cars they had brought down from Tacoma, Washington (after the
reefers were removed by Maersk the flats were taken back to ICTF to
be inspected).  On the weekend of August 14-15 950 containers were
scheduled to be moved through the yard by both rail and truck and
after 4 months of operation between 1000 and 1100 containers were
being handled over the yards rails per week.  Every container on a
railcar means one less truck on the highway.  Of course trucks do
figure in bringing in containers from the Los Angeles area in the
short haul with 1,000 truck transactions a day amounting to around
5,000  a week.  The gate has the potential capacity for 2100 truck
transactions with a single shift plus overtime and has a design
capacity of 525,000 transactions per year based on 250 working days.
Trucks entering the yard pass through the two guard houses which are
manned by ILWU security personnel.  The security personnel also
drive the shuttle van so that employees entering the yard do not
have to interact on foot with all of the vehicles operating up and
down the rows of containers.
     Santa Fe trains leaving Los Angeles start as a "Harbor Extra"
out of Hobart Yard with a track warrant covering them from Hyde Park
to LAIRPORT (L.A.  Airport) and from LAIRPORT to Watson Yard operate
under yard limits.  In the afternoon this means checking over the
radio with the 2nd Watson switcher for location and in the morning
with the 1st Watson though this switcher is not a problem until
ALCOA.  When the train reaches Ironsides it checks with Watson to
get clearance to Long Beach which must be granted by the SP and if
they must wait stop at Avalon.  Once SP grants clearance they cross
to ITS and then proceed on to Maersk.  There are certain windows of
clearance involved here so that a long train does not disrupt
activities and a yard limits speed of 10mph since they have to be
prepared to stop at every switch.  Once at Maersk they can pull in
half the train and then make a cut at the gate and push or pull in
the rest.  As they pull into the yard they are accompanied by the
Santa Fe trainmaster in his lead pickup truck.  Once there is a
train in the yard the trainmaster calls the shots since even at 1mph
, because of the weight behind it, flatcars being moved about can be
fatal to a pedestrian in a collision.  Since all switch points must
be thrown by hand the trainmaster also ensures that everything is in
order while the crew takes care of this job.  While the trainmaster
checks the final observation is by the crew on the unit who looking
down at the rails follow the maxim, "Gap left, go left.  Gap right,
go right."  The switch controls are flush with the ground called
rigid submarine switches to avoid presenting a hazard to other
vehicles.  After the train is spotted they have the option depending
on the timing of leaving the power at Maersk and taking the van back
to Watson or taking the power back to Watson.  If they take the
power back to Watson it may be brought back down by one of the
Watson switch crews who are then bussed back.  When they are
bringing in cars and are taking out an already loaded train they may
first pull out the loaded cars and leave them at ITS.  They then
spot the new cars on the Maersk tracks and a new crew takes over to
pick up the container loaded flatcars that were left outside the
yard take the train to Hobart.  When a loaded Santa Fe train leaves
Maersk it usually does its first crew change at Hobart for the trip
to Barstow since this is the next crew change point.  Crews that
continue from Maersk through to Barstow are given a second days pay
for the added trip.  Trucks entering the facility fall under the
jurisdiction of Capt. Seth Penzell who oversees this part of the
operation.  The drivers check in with one of the 11 clerks who are
in the building overlooking the operation.  Over the phone they
        receive information and the clerks punch into the computer
        for each truck:
A) Steamship line
B) Trucking company
C) Authorization or Booking Number
D) Vessel/Voyage/and Discharge Port
E) Size and type of equipment needed
F) Container/Chassis/ and Genset number
G) is load hazardous
H) Tractor licence and State
I) Tractor tare weight
J) Driver name
K) Current running temperature of reefer
L) Where is equipment being taken
     The 11 clerks have 18 computer terminals, 25 printers and fax
machines which are also provided to the truckers below and in the
course of an eight hour shift may handle 950 trucks.  The usual
shift starts at 8am till 5pm but can be expanded to 7am through 6pm
and a second shift is added Wednesday and Friday as trucks bring in
rush loads against the arrival of the vessels.
     The truck entrance terminal is one of the three control
buildings to monitor the progress in the three aspects involved in
getting the job done.  The other two consist of the rail control
tower which runs the rail portion of the yard and sits overlooking
the tracks and the third is designated building 700 which sits next
to the berth on row 'K' and controls the loading and unloading of
the vessels.
     Once the ship is in port the diagram with container locations
can be plotted to see what must be unloaded first.  The ship is
unloaded by the shift nicknamed "The Hoot Owl" since it's suppose to
arrive at 3am and begin unloading to provide room for the containers
the rail operation will be sending out.  With chassis availability
at a premium the correct balance has the containers coming off and
going on in a "just in time" configuration that is necessary in an
operation that may see 800 to 900 containers coming off the ship and
150 off of the rails and then transferred to ship, railcars, and
trucks.  Along with this balance is the need to keep the operations
separate to avoid confusion and unnecessary delay.
     Under the bright lights needed to illuminate the before dawn
operation the crane operators peer through the clear floor of their
perch down onto the ships as they slide back and forth with much
twanging of cables.  As the hostler tractors position their chassis
on the dock below the lift mechanism descends onto the stacked
containers.  Since the view of straight down on view to line up the
lift with the four holes on top of the container is partially
blocked a guide arm lines up with the side of the container.  This
allows everything to line up before turning the holder the slot
necessary to the lift.  As each row of containers is removed a crew
is lifted onto the top of the next row to remove the metal holders
that have linked one row to the other and the operation begins
again.  As the container is lowered to the dock below the crane
operator is also guided by hand signals from the dock crew below.
The proper colored magnet is placed on the container to indicate it
has been lifted off of the ship and then it is lowered onto the
chassis.
     Once enough room has been created on the ship the operation can
begin to load the containers that are being shipped out.  The
hostler tractors move out into the yard to pick up the outgoing
vans, back their vehicle under the container to line up the knob
(king pin) under the chassis with the plate (called the 5th wheel)
on the back of the tractor.  With this is in place the 5th wheel
lifts hooking the kng pin and lifting the legs off of the ground
utilizing the rear wheels on the chassis and driving to where the
crane will take the container into the air and onto the ship.  All
of this operation is run by the ship planners with their computers
in the windows overlooking the ships.
     Since produce being shipped overseas or to the east is a major
item for both trucking and rail shipments the yard has 388
electrical connections for the refrigerator containers which can be
expanded to 500 in the future.  The refrigerated containers can also
be powered by the generators that are attached to them during
transit should the reefers exceed the plugs.  Produce in reefer
containers may be apples, grapes, french fries, fish, and beef from
the mid west.  California harvests help to feed the world exiting
through the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and Maersk, founded
in 1904, as the biggest of the shipping lines with over 150 vessels
from container ships to tankers, product carriers, gas carriers, and
bulk carriers with approximately 25,000 employees handles  a large
percentage.  Items brought in by truck, besides exiting by ship, may
go out over the rails directly from the yard resulting in less
damage to the interstates for vacationing railfans to drive on.  To
make sure its reefer containers are ready to accept new loads Maersk
provides a reefer washer on the dock which washes both the exterior
and interior using recycled water as a conservation measure.  The
internal washer is robotic controlled and the washer operates under
the control of only one individual.
     Flatcar repairs for those brought in by the Santa Fe are
handled by TTX's on site one-spot facility since these are part of
the Maersk unit train.  All truck chassis leaving the yard are
inspected before they are allowed to exit and any needed repairs
performed.  The attention to detail is part of Maersk's philosophy
of getting the containers safely delivered to the customer.
     Once the flatcars have been dropped off by Santa Fe or SP the
yards trackmobile takes over the operation.  Using either large
rubber wheels to move around the yard or railwheels to push or pull
the cars it positions itself over the rail.  First one end and then
the other drops as the wheels align and then it is hooked to the
cars and  the air hose then attached.  After pumping up the air to
release the brakes the cars can be shoved into place.  Since the
knuckle attachment on the rear of the car is obscured by the car
body a mirror has been positioned to allow the operator to visually
inspect the connection without leaving his seat.
     To get the containers on and off of the flatcars sitting on the
tracks the yard prefers to use it top loaders rather than the
three gantry cranes since this provides for more agile movement
around the cars.  This of course only works when three tracks are
being used since it is necessary to provide a lane for the top
loaders to operate on.  For instance with railcars on tracks #1, #2,
and #4 the top loader can load from the outside of all three.  If
all four tracks are full the big gantry  lifts come into play.  With
a wheel base of 74 feet they can easily sit astride all four tracks
and lift on or off across all four rows.  The disadvantage is that
it takes more time and coordination to move up and down the rows and
only one crane at a time can be in operation while the top loaders
can act more as a swarm around the cars loading from
three rows  at the same time.  Unloading containers without a flat
top surface such as an open container requires the use of the speed
loader attachment which allows the top loader to extend its reach
over the load and is also used by the big PACECO cranes out by the
ship to load items such as Caterpillar tractors.
     The containers that are taken off or loaded on are stored in
rows marked A to V and these are divided into two sections on
either side of each marker  with the designations 100 & 200 (space
numbers start at the track end of the row as 101, 102, through 135)
away from the berth and 300 & 400 next to the berth with the 300 and
400 sections running one  through thirty eight.  Reefers are stored
in sections A to F on the 100 & 200 rows.  Empty containers sit in
sections T through V in the area away from the berth.
     Sitting at the outer end of Row J section 200 is the rail
control tower which oversees the rail operation.  This is the domain
of rail planner John Kavanaugh. When the operation is unfolding Tony
Veit or Don Driessen join him to take charge of the rail operation.
With an eye height of 64 feet the overview provides a down on look
on the entire rail aspect of the yard. The auto focus binoculars are
always close at hand (despite rumors to the contrary these are never
used to check out bikini clad babes on passing sail boats).  The
computers function as a contact of what will be happening and as
ships are nearing the yard a printout is recieved of where the
containers need to go.  This is also coordinated with the railroads
to assure that the flatcars are loaded in the proper order for easy
handling.  As the containers are being loaded onto the cars they are
tracked by the planner utilizing a system of dividing a paper into
fifteen squares.  With five across the top and three down this
represents the flatcars on the tracks below his windows.  The five
across the top are the five flats to a set.  The second down
represents the bottom load and if two twenty foot containers are
involved the third row is filled in for the extra container.  On top
of the sheet is the number of the set such as CSXT 620003. In each
of the squares he fills out in order the container number, city of
destination, weight of the container (so that he can check to make
sure it won't exceed the limit for the car), hatch the container is
stowed on the ship, and lastly its present location in the yard.  As
the containers are located in the yard he updates the list with the
new information such as a call over the radio that, "container
870610 is in SAM (s) 214."  After he finishes with the projected
plan it is discussed with Sealand over the phone and any changes
they want implemented taken care of.  Lots of paper work is involved
in putting together a container train.
      Every container coming off of the ship and every container
coming off of a railcar receives a magnetic flag in the form of a
colored square.  This means that the container has not been noted as
to its location by the clerks who will remove the flag after they
have listed it.  The top loader places the container on a chassis
after which it passes the tower where the person in charge of
security places a seal on the door,  notes that the flag is in place
and that the container has passed the security station.  Since this
information must be communicated to the control room of the tower 64
feet above, the most important aspect of tower control is the white
bucket which descends by rope for use should the elevator be out of
service.  Future plans call for installation of a lid on the bucket
but at the moment it operates sans top.  Of course hand radios play
an important function and extra ones are constantly being recharged
in the tower.
     On August 14th SP was scheduled to remove its Sealand
containers out of the yard first and these were being loaded on
tracks #9 and #7 with 137 containers.  With the first Sealand train
gone SP was scheduled to bring in the flats for the second section
which would then be loaded with more containers coming off of the
ship.  This is where diagraming the ship as to container destination
comes into play since bringing off the containers for the 2nd
Sealand before the first had been loaded would mean an unnecessary
tie up of chassis in the yard which could not then be utilized until
they were unloaded. Southern Pacific takes out its cars and brings
in new ones with two of the switch engines from Dolores while Santa
Fe brings in the road units that will be the actual power for the
train to get things under way as quickly as possible.  This takes
advantage of the fact that the track configuration will allow the
use of both four and six axle power.  The Santa Fe train was being
divided in three sections with the first two taking 140 containers
each at 2130 and 0400 and then a third with 160 containers at 0500.
300 containers were scheduled to be discharged to be loaded on the
ship which was due to depart according to the slate on the deck as
1800 15-8-93.  Prior to leaving under the yard the sets are given an
air test using the Crawford compressor located next to the tower
which supplies the inground connections.
     The International Longshoreman & Wharehouseman Union (ILWU)
supplies the people who are involved in making this yard function as
well as it does working alongside management to get the job done.
From the union comes the clerical workers, hostlers, security staff,
crane operators, etc. who are proud of the way they combine in an
all out effort.  From the three control points at Building 100 for
the trucks, Building #700 for the ships, and the Rail Control Tower
cooperation is of the essence with the amount of work involved in
the limited space on this peninsula of land at the end of the
harbor.
     After the initial bustle of the main part of the day the night
settles down to a dull roar as the final containers are placed on
the Santa Fe train.  Under the bright overhead lights the ship
continues to load and unload containers.  Taxis are continually
discharging returning crew members with recent purchases at the
guard gate who are then whisked by shuttle back to the ship for the
night.  J.D. finally leaves around 9pm and Tony is munching his way
through a plastic container of cold angel hair pasta with marinara
sauce since there is no microwave in the rail control tower.  A crew
is out in the yard looking for two of the containers that need to be
loaded and planning is already in progress for the next ship.
     Obviously a lot of people contributed to the information in
this article.  From Maersk I would like to thank J.D. Nielsen, Tony
Veit,  John Kavanaugh, Don Driessen and Capt. Seth Penzell.  From
Southern Pacific Marie A.  Amabisca, Jim Killeen, and Bernie
Hernandez.  From CSX Intermodal Tracy A.  Henderson.  From Long
Beach Harbor Dave Burditt, Richard Weeks, and Lisa Campbell and from
Santa Fe Jay Newbern and J.C.  Blackwell.  Lastly the men and women
who belong to the ILWU.