Applying Lessons Learned for a New Battery Exchange Building at the Automated Middle Harbor Terminal

The Port of Long Beach (POLB) has completed construction of the Middle Harbor Program Redevelopment, Phase 3. Improvements included administration, labor break and roadability buildings, final wharf segment and backlands area, automated container stacking areas and intermodal yard, and new terminal in and out gate located on the southern end of the terminal. Electric automated guided vehicles (AGVs) powered by large batteries are responsible for transporting containers to and from the wharf backlands to the stacking areas and are key to optimizing the tenant’s operations and terminal throughput. The North Battery Exchange Building (North BXB) is a state of the art and highly technical building which utilizes the tenant’s battery exchange system (BES) to provide automated battery charging and exchanges of AGV batteries as part of the Phase 1 Middle Harbor Redevelopment Program. Once constructed and operational, the tenant determined the North BXB may not provide redundancy to their operations if an issue caused the building to be temporarily non-operational. A second battery exchange building, the South Battery Exchange Building (South BXB), was required to allow operational flexibility and resiliency by the tenant. These battery exchange buildings are the first two of their kind in North and South America, and their integration into the Middle Harbor Terminal (MHT) presented many challenges. The topics in this paper include an overview of South BXB design features and requirements as well as implementing lessons learned from the North BXB into the design and construction of the South BXB.