Ports, Airports Need Upgrades, Report Warns
Record levels of international trade through Southern California’s ports and airports will create a transportation bottleneck by 2006 unless significant improvements are made, according to a study released Wednesday by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.
The report said a lack of land and cuts in transportation budgets could soon cause chronic delays and gridlock that could force some shippers to bypass Los Angeles as their major point of entry to the U.S. market.
“The Los Angeles-area trade activity is bursting at the ports and rail corridors,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the LAEDC. “We have already blown past the traffic levels that were contained in all of the forecasts. You could see ships diverted to other ports, the loss of good-quality jobs. And if they do go to other ports, how are the goods going to get down here? Probably by truck, and that is something we don’t want to see.”
The Los Angeles Customs District includes the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Port Hueneme, and Los Angeles and Ontario international airports. Together, they are expected to generate 475,000 jobs and handle $262 billion worth of goods this year, up 11% over 2003’s record trade level.
The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach handled 164 million tons of goods in 2003, ranking them third in the world, behind Hong Kong and Singapore, according to the study. China was by far the region’s largest trading partner, with $68.3 billion in imports and exports in 2003, followed by Japan with $41.5 billion and South Korea with $16.2 billion.
Despite substantial construction projects designed to increase transportation capacity from ports to intercontinental rail hubs -- such as the $3.4-billion Alameda Corridor project -- the area is reaching its capacity to handle additional trade, Kyser said.
Moreover, the state’s budget crisis has jeopardized major construction projects, such as improving the capacity of railroad yards east of downtown Los Angeles, that are vital to maintaining the region’s international trade.
