Record Southland imports predicted
International trade through Southern California will hit record highs again in 2007, according to a report set for release today, but experts warned of several developing problems and rising objections to the public-health cost of moving international goods.
Traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation’s largest container port complex, will rise more than 9% to 17.8 million containers this year, the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. predicted in its International Trade Trends and Impacts report for Southern California.
The Los Angeles Customs District, which includes the two major ports, Los Angeles and Ontario airports, McCarran airport in Las Vegas and Port Hueneme in Ventura County, also will build on its No. 1 U.S. ranking in total trade value in 2006 of $329.4 billion, the report said.
But the study warned that the railroad system serving the region was nearly at capacity already. It also said that fees on cargo containers, proposed to help defray the costs of pollution reduction, might drive some business to other ports.
The report added that neighbors and environmentalists were increasingly angry over traffic congestion and unchecked diesel emissions from ships, trucks and other port equipment.
The potential effects of two wild cards, the report also noted, were impossible to predict, but already were raising concerns in the trade industry.
One was upcoming negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the shipping companies that employ them on a contract that expires in 2008.
Another worry was the cost and implementation of the Transportation Workers’ Identification Credential, a federally mandated ID card that will affect port workers, shipping companies and truck drivers.
Moreover, the report said that all of these matters too often were considered separately rather than as a whole.
Eduardo Martinez, one of the report’s principle authors, said that “people realize the capacity here is limited. So, 2007 and 2008 are really big years for determining what we do about it.”
One who wasn’t holding his breath was Noel Park, who served on former L.A. Mayor James K. Hahn’s “No Net Increase” in port pollution task force and has long championed the fight against the port’s “diesel death zone.”
“It’s all talk,” Park said. “They take token nibbles around the edges and they keep right on going. They are killing hundreds of people a year” with the current levels of pollution.
