NEWS

Special Report from Member: Los Angeles Port Boat Tour

By  Eric Yao

I recently attended a boat tour of the Los Angeles port, organized by AIR CRE (“American Industrial Real Estate and Commercial Real Estate”). Port of Los Angeles (USLSA) is the largest container port in the Western Hemisphere. The Port of Los Angeles is a department of the City of Los Angeles (also known as the Los Angeles Harbor Department) and is governed by the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners. The Port of Long Beach, which is right next to the Port of Los Angeles, is managed by the Harbor Department of the City of Long Beach. The two sister ports receive almost one-third of the inbound containers of the entire United States. It is the Port of Los Angeles that we toured this time. This was my first boat tour of the port. I was able to observe so closely at the live operation of the port, and appreciate  the enormous size of the ships and the state of art of the automated operation of the port equipment. Eric Caris, an officer who works at the port spoke to us about the port operation. He said the port has made big efforts and great achievements to reduce cargo congestion since the outbreak of COVID. According to Mr. Caris, inbound cargo in May reached historical high. He believes the future cargo volume is likely to be more stable. Statistics show China (include mainland and Hong Kong) is still a dominant leader as an export country to the Port of Los Angeles. In 2021 (fiscal year), cargo from China grew very rapidly (about 15% over the last year). Imports from Vietnam and Taiwan region also grow steadily. According to Wikipedia, The cargo coming into the port represents approximately 20% of all cargo coming into the United States. The Port's Channel Depth is 53 feet (16 m). The port has 25 cargo terminals, 82 container cranes, 8 container terminals, and 113 miles (182 km) of on-dock rail. The port's top imports were furniture, automobile parts, apparel, footwear, and electronics. In 2019, the port's top exports were wastepaper, pet and animal feed, scrap metal and soybeans. Its top three trading partners are China (including Hong Kong), Japan, and Vietnam. (Note: this article is written by Eric Yao from a member firm Pacific ProPartners (www.pacificpropartners.com). Pacific ProPartners provides real estate brokerage services in industrial real estate. Eric holds a MBA real estate from University of Wisconsin Madison. He is a licensed real estate broker in the State of California.)