Long Beach port faces US$12 million loss in Lehman failure

THE bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings hit the Port of Long Beach hard, resulting in US$12 million in failed investments that were supposed to sustain environmental, security, and infrastructure programmes such as its truck re-regulation and solar energy schemes for about $3 million each.

This was revealed in the introduction in the US Senate of the Troubled Assets Relief Program Assistance for Local Governments Act, out to secure $10 billion in compensation for losses sustained through bad investments with financial institutions.

US California Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein said her state and its cities and towns were exposed nearly $300 million in losses, and that dozens of other American communities were in equally dire straits.

Before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, some $20 million was invested - $11.6 million by the port authority - in 27-day commercial paper only two weeks before it declared bankruptcy, reported American Shipper.

Source: American Shipper