San Diego Port Needs Room for Growing Cargo Business

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published July 13, 2007 at 9:41 AM PDT

The Port of San Diego expects its cargo business to increase over the next several years. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce tells us that could mean more jobs in the area.

The Port of San Diego expects its cargo business to increase over the next several years. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce tells us that could mean more jobs in the area.

The Port wants to expand its San Diego and National City terminals to handle more cargo. A plan to do that will be considered by the Port's Board later this year. About 375,000 vehicles were imported through the National City terminal last year and more are expected next year. The Port's Marguerite Elicone says growth means...

Elicone: More jobs for the longshore workers who actually drive those vehicles off of the car-carrying vessels, and then more jobs for the truckers that truck the automobiles to the dealers, and then more jobs for the dealers.

The Port's maritime cargo operation generates $1.5 billion a year to the local economy. It also supports more than 19,000 regional jobs.

Elicone says the Port also needs more room to handle increased imports of other goods, such as sand, cement, fertilizer and fruit.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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