UC Irvine

Over the past two decades, California’s major ports have lost a significant percentage of market share to ports on the East Coast and Gulf Coast, and even to ports in Canada. The objective of this research is to review the most critical issues that are preventing California’s ports from being more competitive and propose a plan of action to state lawmakers to help address these issues. California’s declining grasp on the market can be attributed to a variety of reasons ranging from high costs due to stringent state environmental policies, to Californian ports’ reputation of being unreliable based off of past labor disruptions. Another contributing factor to California’s eroding market share is a lack of coordination between California’s extensive network of maritime groups. The ports are an essential component of the maritime industry, a complex web that involves countless stakeholders and organizations. Accordingly, a review of the California Freight Mobility Plan was performed to evaluate the direction currently being provided to ports and the maritime sector, to identify shortcomings of these freight plans, and how to best address these shortcomings. California lacks a specialized maritime strategy, which makes it difficult for stakeholders to work in tandem and bolster California’s maritime competitiveness. It is concluded that such a maritime policy could address challenges the ports are experiencing, focus stakeholders’ efforts and resources into a shared vision for the future of California’s maritime sector, and benefit California’s ports as a whole.