It's part of the largest upgrade the port has seen since its facilities were first built 50 years ago, and today the Port Authority of Guam opened its new state-of-the-art facility aimed at streamlining terminal gate operations. It's part of the third and final phase of the $50 million dollar Guam Commercial Port Improvement Program.

"It's exciting to see all the upgrade how the Port of Guam looked a couple of years ago, is nowhere near what it looks like today," explained Port Authority of Guam general manager Joanne Brown. And today she says the new terminal gate complex is now open for operations. "We actually opened the new terminal complex this morning and we're very excited to see all our new truckers that are coming through our facility and certainly the desire to be able to move cargo a lot quicker," she stated.

Brown gave KUAM News a tour of the new terminal gate complex and container yard. She says before, truckers would have to get out of their trucks and exchange the paperwork. This new cutting edge facility instead will streamline gate operations and improve traffic flow. "Now we have three lanes that will allow the truckers to be able to drive in, they don't even have to physically get out of their trucks anymore because our cargo checkers can reach other, exchange proper paper work, and they're able to come in or drop off their respective containers," she added.

The 7-acre gate complex features three new gate stalls, four lanes, a three generator load center, high mast lighting, and storm water infrastructure. Brown said, "The expansion of that particular area of the yards is about 4.7 acres because in addition to that we have additional storage area that's been provided for our containers, our grounded containers or chastity containers, depending on what the need is."

She adds with the extended runway, trucks can align comfortably instead of having to line up along Route 11 at the old gate. This new gate complex alone has a price tag of about $27 million funded by the Defense Department. She says it's also about allowing for additional capacity needed for the military buildup, noting, "We're able to accommodate that but also just our natural growth process on Guam. That provides us additional storage capacity that we may need so overall it's really a win-win situation for us."

The project is in collaboration with MARAD, designer EA Engineering and contractor Black Construction. Along with a ribbon cutting in December, Brown says other upgrades are ahead for the port including the port's security cyclone fencing, implementing a terminal operating system to allow the port to electronically track all cargo as they're on the vessel, and a man-less gate operating system.