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All cities built on the shores of an ocean have some connection to the sea.
Many, like St. John's, Newfoundland, establish themselves as fishing villages
by virtue of there being a lot of fish nearby. Others with excellent weather,
like Troncones, Mexico, end up with economies based on tourism. Still others,
like Halifax, Nova Scotia, become important points in the shipping industry
that distribute manufactured goods throughout the world. Oakland, California
falls into the latter category. It has an extremely busy port and shipping industry.
The History of the Port of Oakland
1927 was the date of the creation of the container terminal itself, which is
nearly as large as the entire town of Coboconk. Cottages didn't exist
on that land prior to that date, however, as shipping in Oakland goes all the
way back to 1852, the year of Oakland's incorporation. At that time ships
were unloaded by people rather than cranes and cargo was stored in boxes and
bags. Dredging that year opened up the estuary to ships and further dredging
in 1874 made it a deep water port. In 1915 marked the arrival of the first major
vessel and improvements to the approaches were made in 1921 and 1922. It became
a container port in 1962, and for a period of time was the 2nd busiest in the
world.
The Port of Oakland in the Grand Scheme of Things
Some port towns are smaller, providing goods to only the region in which they
are located, like Honolulu, through which come the materials needed to stock
the islands' store shelves and build real estate. Toronto, Canada doesn't
fall into this category, and neither does Oakland. It was the first major port
in the United States to build terminals for container ships and the investment
has more than paid off. Oakland is now the fourth busiest container port in
the country, behind only Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Newark, New Jersey.
How Things Work in a Container Port
Oakland is a major link in the trade chain between the entire West Coast and
the rest of the world, providing equipment for everything from automobiles to
landscaping. Toronto, located on the Great Lakes, doesn't even come
close. Cranes offload more than 2.24 million containers per year from ships
arriving from all over the world and deposit them onto 18-wheelers which then
deliver them to companies across the continental United States. Nearly 2,000
vessels arrive every year in the port, keeping the 20 available berths constantly
full.
Conditions at the Port of Oakland
Because the estuary upon which the Port of Oakland is located is naturally
only 2ft deep at low tide, the waterway has to be continuously monitored by
the Port Authority like an overprotective nanny. Calgary has deeper waterways
than that, and it's landlocked. Therefore a lot of dredging goes on at
the Port of Oakland. The 500ft wide channel has been dug out to a depth of 30ft
to accommodate huge container ships and is now between 600ft and 800ft wide
in most places to allow them to turn around. A channel has also been dug through
the shoal at Yerba Buena Island.
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