LOS ANGELES (CN) — Federal and state money has been flowing into the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, earmarked to upgrade outdated infrastructure at the center of a pandemic-related supply-chain collapse last year.
Labor leaders, port officials, and local and national politicians convened at the Port of Long Beach on Tuesday with U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to share their optimism that unprecedented amounts of funding will improve the flow of containers through the ports as well as address the heavy pollution in the surrounding communities.
"A lot of this is about the physical infrastructure and the physical infrastructure is getting better," Buttigieg said at a press conference at the port, adding that "innovation has to be good for the workers as well as for the bottom line."
The Biden administration's bipartisan infrastructure law that Congress passed last year sets aside $17 billion to fix the nation's ports. On top of that, California Governor Gavin Newsom this week proposed a budget that includes $2.3 billion for the state's ports, including $1.2 billion for infrastructure and goods movement, $875 million for zero-emission equipment and infrastructure, and $110 million for a workforce training campus.
The Port of Long Beach already got a fiscal boost last month when the federal government awarded a $52.3 million grant to help fund a rail facility that will enable the port to move more cargo by train, thereby improving efficiency and lessening environmental impacts from trucks.
"We're investing in a new normal of 24-hour operations," Mario Cordero, executive director of the Port of Long Beach, said at the news conference.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are by far the largest container port complex in the U.S., handling billions of dollars in imports from Asia. The ports became the inadvertent poster child of the supply-chain disruptions crisis in 2021 with dozens of ships waiting for days or weeks off the coast of California to dock and unload their cargo.
"One of the reasons Christmas wasn't canceled was because the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach moved record amounts of goods," Buttigieg said.
Through this past November, container cargo at the Port of Los Angeles spiked 19% from 2020 and rose 18% in Long Beach. The Port of Los Angeles said last month that it expected its total 2021 cargo volume to exceed the record from 2018 by 13%.
The $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill that President Biden signed in November may bring more good news for Southern California because a big chunk of the money will be distributed through competitive grant programs rather than get allocated based on factors like the state's population.
"As for competitive grants, Southern California will be very competitive," Buttigieg said.
He noted the unity shown by labor and business leaders as well as local politicians at Tuesday visit wasn't something he has seen in many other places.
"At the end of the day, it's going to be the folks on the ground" who are decisive, Buttigieg said.
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