Growing Problems Give Ports a Bad Reputation

Cargo is arriving at a record pace, while shippers worry about traffic jams and product delays. Employment is growing, but neighbors complain about congestion and pollution. And no one knows where to find the money for badly needed transportation improvements.

Welcome to the nation’s most successful -- and much-maligned -- seaports.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the busiest outside Asia, are off to a booming start in 2005. But the twin ports, long a source of high-paying jobs and a growth engine for the Southland economy, are increasingly viewed in a negative light, according to a report on local cargo trends to be released today.

“International trade no longer wears a white hat,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. and coauthor of the report. “The industry has a major challenge on its hands, and unfortunately it is well behind in solving the problems.”

The report details trade activities within the Los Angeles Customs District, which includes both ports, as well as Los Angeles International and Ontario airports. The report predicts that the total value of two-way trade through the district should increase 14.3% to a record $302.1 billion this year.

The report comes as economists and shipping experts are predicting an additional 10% increase over last year’s record cargo container level at the ports -- from the equivalent of 13.1 million 20-foot-long containers to more than 14 million.

But that growth has come at a price. Emissions from giant container ships and the hundreds of diesel-powered trains and trucks that haul cargo to and from the ports are the biggest source of air pollution in Southern California. And truck congestion on area freeways continues to grate on motorists.

That said, the report notes that the ports and their related industries continue to be a reliable job generator, adding 42,600 jobs in the five-county area last year to a total of 404,600 workers.

“The good news is that the ports are generating a lot of jobs and income,” Kyser said. He noted, however, that other West Coast ports had been aggressively trying to lure traffic away from L.A. and Long Beach.

“There are more alligators nipping at our heels,” Kyser said, although the report notes that much of the traffic coming into the Southern California ports is used locally and isn’t likely to be diverted to other ports.

In fact, although steps have been taken to address labor and rail equipment shortages, the report noted, there is still concern that congestion could flare up again in 2005, especially as more of the monster, 8,000-container ships enter service. During the first quarter of 2005, the two ports handled a record 3.14 million containers, more than 74% higher than 1999 levels and 10% more than in 2004.

Port officials say they have gotten the message. They say they can handle the increasing traffic in a way that reduces daytime congestion and pollution from idling trucks and ships.

“You can’t just flip a switch and change things overnight,” said Dick Steinke, director of the Port of Long Beach. “But these goals are not mutually exclusive. We can have our cake and eat it too.”

Changes have already been made, most notably the addition of thousands of union and nonunion dockworkers in 2004. Jim McKenna, president of the association that represents West Coast shipping lines, said the ports would have enough labor to handle the load this year.

The railroads that serve the ports, mainly Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific, said they had continued a major expansion program that had added track as well as hundreds of engineers and locomotives.

Additionally, Burlington Northern has sharply reduced the amount of time it allows customers to leave cargo containers in their rail yards, which had been complicating efforts to make rail traffic more efficient. The railroad has also extended the average length of its trains to 8,000 feet from 7,000 feet to carry more cargo and help get trucks off the freeways.

Beginning this summer, the ports will begin operating at nights and on weekends and will charge customers a fee for using the port during peak daytime hours. The hope is that the expanded hours will persuade shippers to shift arrivals and departures away from peak daytime hours, reducing truck and rail traffic during rush hour.

Charlie Woo, owner of Megatoys Inc., an L.A. toy importer, said he would move some of his business to nights and weekends to avoid paying fees on the 2,000 to 3,000 containers of merchandise his company ships in a given year. And he will stick with using the local ports because it isn’t feasible to use other facilities.

Meanwhile, local officials are moving to address some of the ports’ environmental problems. Last month, a blue-ribbon panel endorsed a plan to reduce air pollution around the port complex that one regulator said could become a “gold standard” for cleaning up ports nationwide.

Still, the ports and shipping terminals will have to assuage neighbors who use terms such as “port sprawl” to describe increasing traffic and “diesel death zone” to describe port pollution.

“Most of Long Beach gets to suffer a constant low-grade infection from all this,” said Diana Mann, a city resident and founder of a group called ECO-Link. “Asking the ports to do something about it is like asking the fox to guard the henhouse.”

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More traffic

Top export destinations in 2004 (in billions)

Japan: $11.2

China: $9.8

South Korea: $5.8

Australia: $5.3

Taiwan: $4.4

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Top import sources in 2004 (in billions)

China: $75.7

Japan: $32.6

South Korea: $11.0

Taiwan: $10.3

Malaysia: $6.8

Sources: Commerce Department, ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach