Cargo records, climate change, infrastructure bill key topics at trade-related expo in Long Beach

The record-breaking magnitude of cargo that freighters, trains and trucks — and dockworkers — person moved from overseas to each implicit America since the coronavirus pandemic began, the request for those progressive successful planetary commercialized to accommodate to clime change, and the projected $1 trillion national infrastructure measure headlined the talking points astatine the archetypal time of the Intermodal EXPO successful Long Beach Monday morning, Sept. 13.

Transportation leaders, advocates and elected officials gathered astatine Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center with dozens of others for the three-day expo’s opening ceremony, wherever they discussed the value of the manufacture to the nationalist economy.

Long Beach is location to the 2nd busiest larboard successful the United States, down lone the Port of Los Angeles. Combined, the San Pedro Bay Port Complex creates astir 3 cardinal jobs passim the U.S., including much than 900,000 crossed Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, according to the Port of Los Angeles. The duplicate ports besides person 31% of the nation’s commercialized marketplace share.

They make $5 cardinal annually successful U.S. Customs revenues, according to the Port of Long Beach.

And the intermodal manufacture is simply a large portion of that — ensuring each the goods that travel successful from overseas marque it to their intended destinations.

In the U.S., the intermodal manufacture includes 5 Class 1 railroads, 46 shipping lines, much than 7,000 trucking companies and much than 10,000 third-party logistics companies.

The yearly expo brings unneurotic members from each country of the freight proviso concatenation for 3 days of exhibitions, unfastened dialogues and engaging discussions astir the industry.

Noel Hacegaba, the Long Beach port’s lawman enforcement director, opened the ceremonial by discussing the industry’s humanities twelvemonth amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“Every conception of the intermodal proviso concatenation stepped up, masked up and showed up to enactment to support cargo successful our system moving,” Hacegaba said. “Few industries payment the local, authorities and nationalist economies arsenic overmuch arsenic the combined freight proscription network.”

And that was evident successful Long Beach, Hacegaba said, with the larboard repeatedly breaking monthly cargo records.

Dockworkers and terminals, for example, moved much than 800,000 twenty-foot equivalent units —  oregon TEUs, the industry’s modular cargo measurement — successful August, an 11.3% summation from the aforesaid period a twelvemonth ago. It was the port’s champion August ever.

Long Beach volition apt travel up astir 500,000 TEUs shy of 10 cardinal for the fiscal year, which successful this metropolis ends this month. Earlier this year, the Port of Los Angeles, which volition merchandise its August information aboriginal this week, became the archetypal larboard successful the Western Hemisphere to determination 10 cardinal TEUs during a 12-month period.

Together, Hacegaba said, the duplicate ports volition process 20 cardinal containers this twelvemonth — much than ever before.

“That’s a 17% increase,” helium said, “shattering past year’s record.”

Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D- Long Beach, who is connected the House Committee connected Transportation and Infrastructure, stressed the value of addressing clime alteration and provided an update connected President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan.

The $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act would inject billions of caller spending connected roads, bridges, waterworks, broadband and different projects to virtually each country of the nation.

“This is an breathtaking clip for goods question arsenic we attack agelong overdue concern successful our nation’s infrastructure to hole for the future,” Lowenthal said. “This has go a nationalist priority.

“And freight,” helium added, “is a large portion of that investment.”

The ports, for their part, person agelong focused connected clime alteration and reducing their c footprint. The 2 ports — which are competitors erstwhile it comes to luring shippers — person teamed up since 2006 connected the Clean Air Action Plan and are trying to get the full motortruck fleet to beryllium zero emissions by 2035. The ports are besides trying to get their wide greenhouse state emissions to 40% beneath 1990 levels by 2030 and 80% by 2050.

The Port of Long Beach, according to its website, reduced greenhouse state emissions by 19% from 2005 to 2019. The LA port, according to its website, reduced GHGs by 15% during that time.

Still, much enactment is needed, officials from some ports repeatedly say.

“If we’re going to win successful the coming generations, we person to physique a sustainable system,” Lowenthal said, “a strategy that’s businesslike and 1 that the national authorities is simply a portion successful gathering that infrastructure.”

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