Port of Los Angeles: America’s Gateway to the Pacific
“Infrastructure scale can define a port, but adaptability defines its resilience.”
The Port of Los Angeles (POLA) is the busiest container port in the United States and a critical node in trans-Pacific trade. Located in San Pedro Bay, alongside its neighbor the Port of Long Beach, POLA handled 8.6 million TEUs in 2024, maintaining its position as America’s number one gateway despite shifting cargo volumes toward East and Gulf Coast ports. Unlike global operators such as DP World or PSA, POLA is a landlord port owned by the City of Los Angeles. Its role is not to maximize shareholder value but to facilitate trade, generate economic activity, and manage public infrastructure.
Scale and Footprint
POLA is part of the San Pedro Bay complex, which together with Long Beach handles more than 30 percent of all U.S. containerized imports. Its terminals are leased to private operators such as APM Terminals, TraPac, and Everport. This landlord model means POLA oversees infrastructure investment, dredging, and policy compliance, while tenants run daily terminal operations.
Geographically, POLA’s strength is its proximity to Asia. The average transit time from Shanghai to Los Angeles is 13–15 days, compared to 25–30 days for East Coast ports via the Panama Canal. That advantage gives POLA a natural edge for time-sensitive goods, from electronics to fashion.
Financial Performance
As a municipal agency, POLA’s financials look different from global peers. In FY2023, operating revenues were $632 million, down from a record $697 million in FY2022 during the pandemic-driven surge. About 75 percent of revenues came from shipping services (terminal leases, wharfage, dockage), with the rest from property rentals and royalties.
Net income is not distributed as dividends but reinvested into infrastructure. In 2023, POLA allocated nearly $200 million to capital projects, including rail upgrades, berth deepening, and electrification. Unlike DP World’s 35 percent EBITDA margins, POLA’s margins reflect its public ownership model—focused less on profitability and more on economic spillovers. The port generates an estimated $400 billion annually in trade value and supports over 1 million regional jobs. This makes POLA’s “balance sheet” more about macroeconomic impact than shareholder returns.
Strategic Role
The Port of Los Angeles plays a unique strategic role:
National Trade Hub – POLA is the main entry point for trans-Pacific goods, handling nearly 40 percent of U.S. containerized imports from Asia. Its performance directly influences U.S. retail supply chains, from Walmart to Amazon.
Economic Engine – The port generates billions in local tax revenue and supports industries from trucking to warehousing across Southern California’s Inland Empire.
Policy Testbed – POLA often pilots U.S. maritime policy, from sustainability initiatives to port digitization. Federal agencies and industry groups frequently look to Los Angeles as a bellwether for national logistics innovation.
Technology and Innovation
POLA is positioning itself as a digital-first public port. Its flagship project, Port Optimizer, developed with GE Transportation, integrates terminal, shipping, and trucking data to provide a digital twin of cargo flows. By 2023, over 90 percent of cargo at POLA was tracked through Port Optimizer, giving shippers and truckers real-time visibility. This system has reduced average dwell times and improved container pickup efficiency, a critical issue during COVID congestion.
Automation is advancing selectively. Terminals like TraPac and Everport have deployed automated guided vehicles (AGVs), stacking cranes, and semi-automated yards. But adoption is slower than at ports like Singapore’s Tuas or Shanghai’s Yangshan, primarily due to U.S. labor politics. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has resisted widespread automation, arguing it reduces jobs. This tension makes POLA’s tech strategy as much about negotiation as innovation.
Sustainability is a defining innovation focus. POLA has committed to becoming a zero-emissions port by 2035, the most ambitious target of any U.S. port. Current initiatives include:
Shore power infrastructure at every major terminal, cutting vessel emissions at berth by up to 90 percent.
Pilot programs for hydrogen fuel cell trucks and battery-electric drayage fleets.
Electrification of yard equipment, with dozens of zero-emissions cranes and tractors already deployed.
Investment in the Clean Truck Fund, charging a fee on cargo to subsidize fleet electrification.
These projects are expensive but position POLA as a leader in green port infrastructure at a time when shippers face increasing ESG mandates.
Competitive Strategy
POLA’s competitive strategy is shaped by both strengths and vulnerabilities. Its core advantage remains its scale, infrastructure, and Asian proximity. The port has deep berths, on-dock rail, and enough capacity to handle the largest megaships. Its location allows importers to shave weeks off transit compared to East Coast gateways.
But that moat has eroded in recent years. Since 2019, West Coast ports have lost nearly 10 percentage points of U.S. import market share to East Coast and Gulf Coast competitors like Savannah, Houston, and New York/New Jersey. The reasons:
Congestion during the COVID surge left POLA with record vessel backlogs (peaking at 109 ships in early 2022).
Labor uncertainty tied to ILWU contract negotiations has driven importers to diversify routings.
Regulatory costs in California, including clean air mandates and high trucking costs, make East Coast gateways more attractive for discretionary cargo.
In response, POLA’s strategy rests on three pillars:
Digitization – Expanding Port Optimizer into a national model, with advanced predictive analytics and integration with rail and inland logistics.
Infrastructure Investment – Deepening berths to 53 feet, expanding rail projects like the Terminal Island Rail Yard, and upgrading intermodal links to the Midwest.
Sustainability Leadership – Using its zero-emissions 2035 target as a differentiator, positioning POLA as the port of choice for shippers under ESG pressure.
Unlike DP World or PSA, POLA cannot diversify globally or vertically. Its moat is to stay indispensable as the U.S. gateway to Asia while offsetting risks with innovation, green infrastructure, and superior inland connectivity.
Final Thoughts
The Port of Los Angeles is not a profit-driven operator like DP World or SIPG. It is a public asset with a mandate to facilitate trade, generate jobs, and support economic growth. Handling 8.6 million TEUs in 2024, it remains the backbone of America’s Pacific trade, but its moat is no longer unchallenged. Diversions to the East Coast highlight the fragility of relying solely on geography.
For global supply chains, POLA offers two lessons. First, digitization and sustainability are now essential to competitiveness, even for ports with natural advantages. Second, landlord ports like Los Angeles face a unique challenge: they must innovate within the constraints of public ownership and labor politics. That balance will determine whether POLA remains America’s premier gateway—or cedes ground to rivals in the decades ahead.
