Flores Seeks Merchant Ship Berth

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores has asked the Port of Los Angeles to reconsider docking the merchant ship Lane Victory at Berth 87, which would place the vessel near popular tourist attractions along the San Pedro waterfront.

“I’d like to have the port tell its engineers to look at this site and pretend that a very prosperous shipping company” has a ship this size, which it wants to dock at Berth 87, and see if they can make it work, Flores told port officials at a City Council committee meeting Tuesday. “Try and be a little creative.”

Port spokeswoman Julia Nagano responded in an interview after the meeting: “We will evaluate it. And I am sure we will continue to look at other sites as well.”

A group of merchant marine veterans is trying to convert the 455-foot-long vessel into a museum to honor their fallen comrades. They want to dock the ship at Berth 87, just north of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum and a statue that honors merchant seamen. But port officials say that berth, along the main shipping channel, is needed as a cargo terminal.