Port of L.A. Steams Past New York as Busiest in U.S.

The Port of Los Angeles has surpassed New York as the nation’s busiest commercial gateway in a shift that symbolizes the burgeoning importance of Pacific Rim trade, the U.S. Customs commissioner said Thursday.

The ascension of Los Angeles, after historical domination by the Port of New York, represents a milestone in an east-to-west realignment that has brought Southern California to prominence as a hub of international commerce.

“It’s literally growing by leaps and bounds,” Customs Commissioner Carol Hallett said of the new Pacific traffic. “The merchandise coming in . . . is just staggering.”

According to agency statistics, about 1.4 million 20-foot cargo containers passed through the Port of Los Angeles last year. The increased volume established the port as the leading source of government revenue from commercial traffic, with annual collection of tariffs and fees in excess of $1.7 billion.

In addition, the Port of Long Beach appears very likely to become the nation’s second-busiest port, with traffic volume last year only slightly less than that of New York and increasing, according to newly collected data.

Officials in Southern California said they were not surprised to learn of the rising stature of the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.

“It’s just that the Pacific Rim has a much more direct shot to us,” said Chuck Ellis, a spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles. “Why go all the way around the world?”

The disclosure came at a breakfast session with The Times’ Washington Bureau.

The agency’s statistics show that in terms of commercial traffic, Los Angeles led the nation in 1989 with 1.44 million cargo containers imported or exported. New York ranked second, with 1.20 million containers, while Long Beach was close behind, with 1.17 million.

The dollar value of goods passing through the Port of New York remains the highest in the nation. But Customs Service officials said it was now beyond question that Los Angeles was “taking over” from New York. The officials predicted that the trend would continue through the 1990s.

“The whole Pacific Coast is definitely going to keep climbing from everything we’ve seen, and it’s going to be a significant shift,” Sam Banks, the assistant Customs commissioner for commercial operations, said at the breakfast session.

Besides proximity to Asian markets, Southern California port officials said the recent gains reflect the region’s economy and climate. The economy, they said, provides a powerful market for imported goods; the weather ensures that year-round shipping.

But the port officials indicated that traffic has not been increasing as rapidly as in the early 1980s, when commerce and income jumped by as much as 20% a year at the Port of Long Beach. More recently, communications officer Elmar Baxter said, annual increases have averaged about 5%.

Long Beach officials noted that traffic there already exceeds that in Los Angeles in total tonnage, including crude oil and other liquid cargoes. But Los Angeles handles more of the general cargo that is used as the principal measure of international commerce.

In pledging to give new priority to improving the flow of international commerce, Hallett made clear that she intends to chart a markedly different course than that of her controversial predecessor, William Von Raab.

While insisting that the agency’s anti-drug operations would not suffer, Hallett indicated that she would seek to ease unnecessary Customs barriers that the trade community believes have slowed traffic at ports.

In calling attention to the “phenomenal amount of merchandise” now flowing through Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors, Hallett also issued a call to arms to their eastern competitors.

“I’ve been trying to generate a little competition between the brokers and importers, between the East Coast and the West Coast, because I think it’s just good for them all to strive to do a better job,” she said. “It’s big business.”

Customs officials acknowledged that the changing patterns of seagoing trade have caused some headaches for the agency.

A report commissioned by West Coast port authorities in 1987 charged that failures by Customs to keep pace with the westward shift had resulted in serious delays in the processing of passengers and goods.

Banks contended Thursday that there has since been “some balancing” of Customs inspectors across the country. But he acknowledged that “limited resources and limited manpower” meant that short-staffing on Western ports remains a problem.

Hallett also left no doubt of her determination to depart from the pattern established by her predecessor in a number of other arenas crucial to the Customs Service.

Von Raab was relentless in his criticism of foreign governments for what he characterized as their reluctance to enlist in the war on drugs. When he resigned last summer, he delivered an angry speech that blasted the State Department and other agencies for giving higher priority to other concerns.

But Hallett, a former minority leader in the California Assembly, described herself as a commissioner who would strive for consensus.

“My approach is somewhat different,” she said when asked about her predecessor. She noted that she had already met with high-level Mexican officials--Von Raab’s most frequent target--in an effort to “forge a partnership.”

“You don’t get anywhere if you bash them,” Hallett said of the Mexican government.

Times staff writer Darrell Dawsey in Los Angeles contributed to this story.