Update on Overseas Meetings and California Trade Mission

Dear Colleagues:

I’m writing with an update from abroad on what has been a very successful trade mission for our Port. We began our meetings this week on Monday in Singapore with APL, which is owned by the Singaporean government and has been one of our long-time as well as largest shipping partners here in Oakland.

Maritime Special Advisor John Bowe and Maritime Marketing Manager Lawrence Dunnigan and I met with the President of APL worldwide and the senior executive in charge of global network (i.e. port selection). The President acknowledged that he gained an important understanding of the Port's goals and objectives, and offered APL's engagement on issues of rail service and competitiveness in Oakland.

On Tuesday, in Hong Kong, we met with MOL and China Merchants Holdings International. MOL is another shipper that calls Oakland, and China Merchants is the largest terminal operator in China and one of the top five in the world. We have had a strategic MOU with them for the last couple of years focused on cold-supply chain development between California’s Central Valley and inner China, the largest and fastest growing market for our state’s high quality agricultural and food products, for which Oakland is the gateway of choice. Again, a productive meeting before heading off to another airport, this time to fly to Beijing to join our Governor Jerry Brown and the state’s trade mission.

Wednesday was back-to-back meetings in Beijing, joined by our Aviation Marketing Manager John Albrecht, focused on efforts to secure new China-Oakland International Airport direct air service which could mean over $150 million in new positive economic impact for the region and new revenue for the Port. We met with a specific carrier that we originally connected with back in 2011 on the trade mission with our Mayor. We also sat down with the key Chinese federal government agency that must approve any overseas Chinese air service. 

The highlight of Wednesday was the announcement of the Chinese investment in the $1.5 billion Brooklyn Basin project here at the Port of Oakland along our waterfront. You may know this as the former “Oak-to-9th” project that we have worked on for more than a decade to help bring to life and shepherd through numerous regulatory hurdles. We are still in escrow with the developers, which we plan to close June 14th, paving the way for this project that will generate an estimated10,000 jobs through its development and construction. This is the kind of good news on investment and job creation that we can all be proud of. Our Port colleagues and developer partners are still working hard and are excited about this news along with many others who have contributed to this project over the last 10+ years. 

As I write this, it’s Friday morning in Shanghai, and today we inaugurate the new California trade office, which includes a panel discussion on California agricultural exports. We will also be with the team from Visit California who promote travel and tourism, where we will be driving home the message of flights between OAK and China. 

I'm looking forward to returning home tomorrow and building on the progress we made here and the good work that you are all doing for our Port.  

Yours Truly,

Deborah Ale Flint

Executive Director (Acting)