California's Ocean Economy - California Resources Agency - State ...

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In recent years, California ports have become more and more significant as service providers
to promote international commerce. Figure 5-4 shows the composition of waterborne
tonnage for combined California ports from 1997 to 2001. The total volume of cargo
through all ports grew 8.5% from 1997 to 2001. The most significant growth occurred from
1999-2000. with a 7.7% increase. From 1997 to 2001, total imports increased 85.8%.
200,000
180,000
160,000
140,000
120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
Composition of Waterborne Tonnages for Combined California Ports, 1997 -
2001 (in Units of 1,000 Tons)
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Outgoing_Domestic Exports Incoming_Domestic Imports Intrastate
Figure 5-4: 1997-2001 Combined California Ports, Composition of Tonnage
Source: US Army Corps of Engineers
Figure 5-5 presents the composition of waterborne tonnage for combined Long Beach and
Los Angeles Ports from 1997 to 2001. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the two
most active container ports in the nation. Combined, they represented the third largest
container port in the world, only after Hong Kong and Singapore. In 2000, more than one
third of all US waterborne containers moved through the Los Angeles and Long Beach
ports. Approximately
two millions jobs nationwide were linked to the activities of the Ports
of Los Angeles and Long Beach at that time.
According to the California Marine and Inter-modal Transportation System Advisory
Council, containerized cargo through the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is expected
to grow three times its current size between 2001 and 2020. The economic benefits of trade
through the ports will be accompanied by major challenges of congestion and growth
management. 28
28 For additional information on expected growth for California ports, see Jon Haveman, California Seaports, California Global
Gateways: Trends and Issues.
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