The Port of Long Beach (POLB) saw its busiest year ever in 2017, topping pre-recession levels.
The port moved 7.54 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), an increase of more than 11 percent when compared to 6.77 million TEUs recorded in 2016.
In 2017, loaded inbound volumes stood at 3.86 million TEUs, loaded outbound at 1.47 million TEUs and empties at 2.21 million TEUs.
When discussing last year’s port accomplishments, Mario Cordero , POLB’s Executive Director , said: “Prudent management and planning readied the port to navigate the shifting landscape, and handle the enormous container ships now plying the world’s oceans.”
Cordero presented “a vision of predictable, reliable, efficient and fast trade operations that will retain and grow business into the 2020s and beyond.”
He described a “24/7” port featuring more information technology, “one that is nimble like online retailer Amazon, and bold like electric vehicle builder Tesla.”
Lou Anne Bynum, Harbor Commission President , recalled how the port charted a new course over the last 12 months by finding a tenant for a terminal vacated by the bankruptcy of a major shipping line.
Bynum also noted that the commission approved updated clean air strategies aimed at eliminating all harmful air emissions from port-related sources.
“We will continue to be the leading green port, devoted to a strategy that embraces … economic development and … environmental sustainability and social responsibility,” Bynum commented.
“Zero emissions remains our ultimate goal,” Cordero further said.
“For us to continue to grow sustainably, our port must be better prepared than other North American ports to bring goods on vessels that plug into clean shore power, move on zero-emission yard equipment and cranes,” Cordero concluded.