Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro, left, and Humboldt Marine Logistics President Stephen Pepper discuss the creation of a Pacific Coast marine highway at the 11th Annual California Maritime Leadership Symposium Wednesday, May 11, 2011, at the Sacramento Convention Center. Courtesy photo.

SACRAMENTO – Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast) and Humboldt Maritime Logistics President Stephen Pepper were featured speakers on the topic of creating a Pacific Coast marine highway at the 11th Annual California Maritime Leadership Symposium Wednesday in Sacramento.

A marine highway on the West Coast would “save 5.4 million gallons of diesel fuel a year compared to transporting goods the same distance by truck,” said Chesbro, who served as moderator of a panel that that explored the role of the state and federal governments in support of maritime commerce.

“It would also eliminate 60,000 metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere per year, decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 68 percent, eliminate 34 million truck-travel miles per year, help decrease our dependence on foreign oil and directly work to create jobs,” Chesbro said.

A Pacific Coast Marine Highway, servicing U.S. ports from Canada to Mexico has long been a dream of Stephen Pepper of Arcata, whose Humboldt Marine Logistics won a $275,000 award from the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop a West Coast Hub-Feeder Project.

The project, which Pepper named Blue Coast Intermodal, is a public-private partnership sponsored by the Humboldt Bay Harbor Recreation and Conservation District (HBHRCD).

This marine highway venture will use marine barges to freight goods in and out of secondary ports on the Pacific Coast.

Pepper said he envisions Humboldt Bay and Long Beach becoming the first two terminals.

This mode of shipping has the potential to save West Coast businesses a lot of money compared to over-the-highway trucking, but it also gives “shippers a way to move cargo that is more environmentally responsible when coupled with clean Diesel technologies in the ports,” Pepper said.

Also attending the Symposium were HBHRCD commissioners Mike Wilson and Richard Marks and CEO David Hull.

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