Long Beach, Calif.--The second busiest U.S. seaport (Port of Long Beach) which sprawls over 35 miles of waterfront and is visited by cargo ships as long as three football fields, opens its doors once each year to the public, allowing all ages to wander, learn, touch and hear the stories that make this port so interesting and successful. One such story involves its re-tooling to green practices.

The Port of Long Beach received an award for becoming the first seaport in the world to construct an oil shipping terminal that offers clean "shore power"to improve air quality. Creating the world's first shore-powered berth for oil tankers, Port of Long Beach estimates it has eliminated 30 tons of air pollution in a single year through the process of plugging oil tankers into a new landside electrical grid for all power needs while docked and unloading crude oil during off-loading operations.

The impressive one day tour reaches capacity crowds as approx. 10,000 people attend the event, viewed by rail, boat and foot. One interesting program you may learn about is the "On Dock Rail"program with more than 20% of the containerized cargo being loaded on trains at five shipping terminals. The more goods loaded on trains, the less the pollution. With over 100 miles of tracks for trains built (some more than one mile long,) a fully loaded train can carry 280 containers. Sulfur diesel fuel to power these trains reduces pollution by 70% over other fuels.

These are just a few facts you can take home with you when you attend the exciting even that is offered absolutely free. While Port of Long Beach charges a hefty fee to attend the port open house, Long Beach does not. Now that's goodwill that every citizen can enjoy! -polb.com