California Ports

California is home to 11 major ports spanning the 1,000 miles of coast between the North Coast and San Diego County. The earliest ports came into existence with California's Gold Rush of 1848-49. San Francisco and Sacramento both developed their port offerings to meet the demand of supplies supporting the massive influx of immigrants during that famous time in California history. Some ports that were popular during the era have since disappeared, but others have grown. Port of Los Angeles is one such example. It overtook San Francisco to become the busiest port in the in U.S. Combined with Port of Long Beach that sits adjacent to it, the two make up the sixth busiest port in the world.

Ports create busy harbors with heavy industrial commerce. Safety issues, pollution, and other concerns are mitigated and new technologies created to lessen those impacts. Port of Long Beach has taken a lead in green technologies and other ports are following. Ports not only provide jobs and money to cities and economies, they also are entertainment destinations in cities such as San Francisco, Los Angles, and San Diego.

* Humboldt Bay Harbor District - humboldtbay.org

Located on the rugged Northern California coast about 225 miles north of San Francisco and 156 nautical miles south of Coos Bay, Oregon, the Port of Humboldt Bay's completion of a recent harbor deepening project gives the port the potential for becoming an oasis of international commerce, linking Northern California with the rest of the world.

* Port of Hueneme - portofhueneme.org

The port of Hueneme is the only deep water harbor between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area and is the U.S. Port of Entry for California's central coast region. (View our Video) It serves International businesses and ocean carriers from the Pacific Rim and Europe. The Port of Hueneme ranks among the top seaports in California for general cargo throughput. The niche markets that Hueneme serves include: the import and export of automobiles, fresh fruit and produce. Its unique positioning near the Santa Barbara Channel has also made the Port of Hueneme the primary support facility for the offshore oil industry.

* Port of Long Beach- polb.com

The Port of Long Beach is one of the world's busiest seaports, a leading gateway for trade between the United States and Asia. It supports over a million jobs nationally and generates billions of dollars in economic activity each year. Long Beach is the second busiest port in the United States and is the 18th busiest container cargo port in the world

* Port of Los Angeles - portoflosangeles.org

The Port is an independent, self-supporting department of the City of Los Angeles under the control of a five-member Board of Harbor Commissioners appointed by the Mayor and approved by the City Council and is administered by an executive director. It encompasses 43 miles of waterfront and 7500 acres and is the 1st busiest port in the United States; 16th busiest in the world and 6th busiest in the world when combined with the neighboring Port of Long Beach. The port has over 80 shipping lines, 2,179 vessels and 27 major facilities to accommodate the traffic. There are around 15 cruise lines at the port.

The Harbor Commission was established in 1907. Top trading in 2009 was with: China ($92.5 billion)
Japan ($22.3 billion)
Taiwan ($7.4 billion)
South Korea ($5.7 billion)
Thailand ($5.2 billion)

* Port of Oakland - portofoakland.com

Port of Oakland occupies 19 miles of waterfront on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, with about 900 acres devoted to maritime activities and another 2,600 acres devoted to aviation activities. FAA forecasts show that by 2012, nearly 20 million passengers will travel through OAK each year. The Port of Oakland owns, manages and markets seaport facilities on San Francisco Bay and the Oakland Estuary. The seaport ranks among the top 4 in the nation and 20 in the world in terms of annual container traffic.

* Port of Redwood City - redwoodcityport.com

The Port of Redwood City, located 18 nautical miles south of San Francisco, is the only deepwater port in south San Francisco Bay. Strategically located between San Francisco and the rapidly growing Silicon Valley/San Jose region, the Port provides excellent inland transportation access via U.S. Highway 101 and Union Pacific Railroad. Our key location enables tenants to save both time and shipping costs.

* Port of Richmond - ci.richmond.ca.us

The Port of Richmond is northern California's most diversified cargo handler. With its roots in petroleum and liquid bulk cargos, Richmond has expanded its dry bulk, break-bulk, and containerized cargo handling capabilities and has increased its automobile processing facilities. Today, Richmond ranks Number One in liquid bulk and automobile tonnage among ports on San Francisco Bay.

* Port of San Diego - portofsandiego.org

The Port of San Diego was created by the state Legislature to manage San Diego Bay and surrounding waterfront land on December 18, 1962. The Port has operated without tax dollars since 1970 and has been responsible for $1.5 billion in public improvements in its five member cities: Imperial Beach, National City, Chula Vista, San Diego and Coronado waterfront properties. The Port oversees two maritime cargo terminals, a cruise ship terminal, 17 public parks, various wildlife reserves and environmental initiatives, a Harbor Police department and the leases of more than 600 tenant and sub-tenant businesses around San Diego Bay.

* Port of San Francisco - sfport.com

The Port of San Francisco is governed by a five member Board of Commissioners, each of whom is appointed by the Mayor and subject to confirmation by the City's Board of Supervisors. Each commissioner is appointed to a four-year term. The Port Commission is responsible for the seven and one-half miles of San Francisco Waterfront adjacent to San Francisco Bay, which the Port develops, markets, leases, administers, manages, and maintains. Its jurisdiction stretches along the waterfront from Hyde Street Pier on the north to India Basin on the south. The Port's operating portfolio is composed of over 550 ground, commercial, retail, office, industrial and maritime industrial leases, including many internationally recognized landmarks such as Fisherman's Wharf, PIER 39, the Ferry Building, and AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants baseball team.

* Port of Stockton - portofstockton.com

The port is an international 35-foot deep-water port with secured gates that are open 24/7. It has more than 2000 acres for import/export cargoes such as containers, steel, wind energy, ro/ro and heavy lift/project cargo, as well as warehousing, refrigeration, cold storage and distribution centers. It has seven million square feet of U.S. Dept. of Agriculture-approved storage. The port is close to Interstates 5 and 80 and is serviced by the BNSF and UP railroads that can carry cargo directly to the port from locations outside California. Also, the newly developed Marine Highway barge service will facilitate the easy movement of ocean-bound containers to Oakland for shipping. The port is located in Foreign Trade Zone #231.

* Port of West Sacramento - cityofwestsacramento.org

Located at the Intersection of Interstate 80 and Interstate 5, the Port of West Sacramento is a bulk-commodity port specializing in the import and export of bulk agricultural- and construction-related products. The port has more than 480 acres of maritime properties and 700,000 square feet of enclosed storage located along the Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel and is serviced by the Union Pacific and BNSF railroads. The port is part of the West Sacramento State Enterprise Zone and Foreign Trade Zone #143. The Marine Highway Barge service will complement existing international shipments of goods and cargo from the Sacramento Valley.

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