University of California Transportation Center

The United States is a major trading nation, and to a large degree its continued prosperity depends on maintaining and expanding international trade. The nation's seaports provide the key links to the world economy. Even so, the United States has no national plan for seaport development. Individual ports undertake expansion based on their own vision and resources.

On the west coast, the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles form the nation's busiest port complex and serve as the primary conduits of trade with the booming economies of the Pacific Rim countries. Serving the rapidly growing southern California region, the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, together called the Ports of San Pedro, also ship nearly half of imports east of the Rockies, to destinations as distant as New York and Europe.