Long Beach Port

LONG BEACH, CALIF.— There's a good chance your cell phone, shoes, pants, coffee and car entered the United States, probably through the Port of Long Beach.

Every year, $140 billion worth of cargo passes across the port's docks—imports bound for store shelves; exports leaving for foreign destinations.

The busy Port of Long Beach, which gets more than 5,000 vessel visits a year, has seven container terminals with 66 cranes as high as 15 stories, capable of lifting up to 65 tons, that load and unload gigantic cargo ships over three football fields long.

Just one of these vessels with 7,000 to 10,000 containers or more, can carry enough shoes to supply one pair for nearly every person living in California.

Although 75% of the port's business involves containers, the number one import, based on weight and value, is oil. On the west side of Pier T, huge oil tankers arrive with crude petroleum that's piped directly to local refineries, where it's processed into gasoline.

BP, which operates an oil terminal here, has worked with the port to develop shore-side electricity facilities, where berthed vessels can use electricity instead of burning diesel fuel, thus eliminating harmful emissions for docked ships.

Five of the container terminals here have on-dock rail facilities. The rail connections reduce the amount of trucks on roads and freeways, reducing pollution and moving cargo more efficiently. The port has invested $1.8 billion in rail improvements.

Long Beach is a landlord port, which leases publicly-owned land to private terminal operators, who are usually a partnership between a shipping company and cargo-handling firm. For instance, Pacific Container Terminal is a partnership between SSA Marine and China's largest shipping line, COSCO.

The port's main channel is 76 feet deep, the deepest dredged channel in the country. Along both sides of it are terminals that handle scrap metal, recycling, cement and petroleum. Much of the port's business comes from China, South Korea, Japan as well as Europe, South America, Hawaii and the Polynesian Islands.

In 1911, the port's first operations began when redwood lumber was delivered to the north harbor. Today, lumber still arrives from the Pacific Northwest at the Weyerhauser Co. terminals at Pier T.

Toyota also imports and exports autos from the harbor. Some cars made in Kentucky are sent by train to the port to be exported to other countries. Japanese-made models are imported through Long Beach for US destinations. Toyota and other auto manufacturers, import over 250,000 cars a year here.

The port, which supports over 300,000 jobs in Southern California, also exports to outer-space. Sea Launch vessels there, go to sea, where they send satellites into space.

Officials estimate that more than 40% of all containerized cargo to the US, comes through the Port of Long Beach and it's neighboring Port of Los Angeles. Because of this, port security is handled here by multiple state, federal and local agencies, including the FBI, U.S. Customs and Homeland Security.

The port is a fascinating place that you need to see to understand. Certain times of the year, they have free boat and train tours (reservations are needed).

Daniel Yi Community Specialist for the Port of Long Beach says, "It's incredible to see the major role the port plays in international shipping."

See why the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are the largest seaports in the country and one of the largest such complexes in the world by visiting: polb.com