The Port of Oakland has unveiled plans for a massive Global Trade & Logistics Center on the site of a 330-acre U.S. Army base closed in 1993. Slated for completion in 2020, the center is expected to boost volume at the San Francisco Bay-area port by approximately 200,000 containers a year, a 9-percent increase over 2014

Phased construction is expected to begin later this year with work already underway on a new $100-million rail yard that features 16 parallel tracks stretching 4,000 feet, which will increase the port’s rail capacity from 17-car trains to 200-car trains once finished. Next, a 34-acre bulk shipping terminal will be added to handle cargoes such as steel, grain, logs and potash. In 2016, the port is expected to begin work on a network of new freight-consolidation warehouses that will allow shippers to consolidate and break down shipments on site.

With increased rail capacity and enhanced on-site freight consolidation available to shippers, operations at the new facility are expected to significantly reduce the truck traffic chronically congesting nearby Interstates 80 and 880.

“Shippers are always looking for ways to cut costs out of the supply chain, so we expect this to be very well received. Our goal is to balance the 85 percent of port traffic that comes by trucks by increasing rail trips,” says Mark Erickson, Maritime Projects Administrator at the Port of Oakland.

The total bill for the public/private-financed project is expected to top $500 million with almost half of the bill—some $242 million—paid by the state of California. The Port of Oakland selected the California Capital & Investment Group is the primary developer for the Global Trade & Logistics Center project.