International Cargo Seaport: Port of Los Angeles

Los Angeles is one of the greatest cities in the United States of America. The city is located in the hugely populated state of California and sits side by side with the Pacific Ocean. Therefore it is only right for such a strategically-located great city to have a great port like the one and only Port of Los Angeles.

About Port of Los Angeles

The Port of Los Angeles is located in San Pedro Bay, about 30 kilometers south of downtown Los Angeles. It is located in the same area as another American west coast busy port, the Port of Long Beach, in the famous Long Beach City of California.

The port has a total area of about 30 square kilometers, with 13 square kilometers of the harbor and 17 square kilometers of land area.

That large area is ideal for large container ships from Asia, and the location of the San Pedro Bay is actually more strategic for the ships from that continent compared to the other west coast port in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The History

Even though it was opened on December 9, 1907, the history of the Port of Los Angeles was begun far before the discovery of San Pedro Bay in 1542. At that time, it was impossible to build a harbor there as the land was too soft.

A lot of infrastructures was built to support the seaport in the city of Los Angeles. The port was intended to be built in Santa Monica, near the Los Angeles International Airport in the western part of the city. There was even the Long Wharf built in 1893 for the port.

However, a lot of parties pushed for federal support for the port to be built at San Pedro Bay. Finally, with the support from the federal government of the United States of America, the construction of the port began in 1899.

Volume of Transaction in Port of Los Angeles

In 2020, the Port of Los Angeles was the busiest port in the United States of America and even the entire western hemisphere, with a cargo transaction volume of 9.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units or TEUs. The port is also among the top twenty busiest ports in the entire world.

That number is actually a slight drop from the numbers of cargo transaction volume in 2019 with 9.3 million TEUs, and in 2018 with 9.4 million TEUs. Still, there were no other ports in the United States of America that could match that number.

Interesting Facts

As the largest and busiest container port in North America, the Port of Los Angeles, joined with the neighboring Port of Long Beach, acts as the main gate of export and import shipments between the United States of America and Asian countries like China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan.

The port also has the largest cruise ship terminal on the West Coast, which is linked with many San Pedro waterfront attractions like the USS Iowa Museum, the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, and the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.