{"id":131511,"date":"2026-01-13T11:27:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T11:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/131511\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T11:27:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T11:27:07","slug":"after-a-record-year-the-port-of-long-beach-prepares-for-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/131511\/","title":{"rendered":"After a record year, the Port of Long Beach prepares for growth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite a year of trade volatility and unprecedented tariffs<\/a>, the Port of Long Beach handled a record amount of cargo in 2025 and expects growth to accelerate.<\/p>\n

Under the leadership of a new chief executive, Noel Hacegaba, the second-busiest port in the U.S. plans to invest to be ready to double the cargo it processes by 2050. That\u2019s also the year the port is hoping to achieve zero carbon emissions. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have 24 years to figure this out and ensure we can handle double our capacity,\u201d Hacegaba said. <\/p>\n

The forecast predicted the Port of Long Beach will handle the equivalent of 20 million containers in 2050, up from 9.8 million containers<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

Hacegaba, who joined the Port of Long Beach in 2010 and previously served as chief commercial officer before beginning his CEO role Jan. 1, said he is focused on upgrading the port\u2019s operations. The future of the port<\/a> depends on investments in infrastructure and efficiency, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of what I\u2019m going to do as chief executive resembles what a head coach of a football team would do,\u201d Hacegaba said. \u201cI want us to move to a hurry-up offense,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Managed by the city\u2019s Harbor Department, the port currently handles about $300 billion in cargo annually and supports 2.7 million jobs in the U.S. The port accounts for 534,000 jobs in Los Angeles and Orange counties and 1.14 million jobs in California. Hacegaba is looking forward to increasing those numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we double our throughput, there\u2019s no question we\u2019re going to need a bigger workforce to handle that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After a year under the Trump administration, some things have changed for the port. <\/p>\n

Trade with China used to account for 70% of the port\u2019s cargo handling, but after President Trump\u2019s tariffs<\/a> on Chinese exports, that amount has fallen to 60%. Much of the movement has shifted to Vietnam, which takes longer to travel to and from, Hacegaba said. <\/p>\n

Breaking cargo records in 2025 \u201cis remarkable when you consider everything that we\u2019ve gone through as an industry and as an economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At one point, Trump imposed a nearly 150% tariff on Chinese goods<\/a>, but as of November, the tax on many goods from the country was 47%. Trump also imposed steep taxes on imports from other key trade partners, including Mexico and Canada.<\/p>\n

As a result, cargo volumes varied drastically<\/a> by month at the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time there was an announcement of a new tariff, the reaction from the shippers was to advance shipments to get ahead,\u201d Hacegaba said. \u201cWe did notice ups and downs.\u201d<\/p>\n

From April to May last year, the number of containers processed at the port fell from 867,493 to 639,160. By July, the number jumped up to 944,232.<\/p>\n

International shippers who front-loaded goods to get ahead of new taxes accounted for much of the port\u2019s cargo during its record year. <\/p>\n

\u201cDespite some of the doom and gloom that a lot of people were suggesting, we ended in record territory<\/a>,\u201d Hacegaba said. \u201cThe single biggest factor was all the front-loading.\u201d<\/p>\n

The port handled last year\u2019s cargo without congestion or backlogs, according to Hacegaba. Over the next 10 years, the port plans to invest $3.2 billion in inland railroad connectivity to move goods faster and more efficiently. <\/p>\n

The intricate cargo-hauling system still will rely on truck drivers, who represent a significant portion of California\u2019s working class, but is looking to lean more towards using railways, which can be faster and greener, Hacegaba said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order for us to accommodate that growth, we\u2019re going to have to leverage every mode of transportation to get those containers out as quickly as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To \u201cgrow green\u201d and eliminate carbon emissions by 2050, the port agreed to a deal with Brookfield Properties to build a zero-emission container terminal at Pier S, located in the port complex along the Cerritos Channel. <\/p>\n

The port has also spent the last decade preparing its infrastructure<\/a> for bigger and more energy-efficient ships.<\/p>\n

In November, the California State Transportation Agency rejected a proposal from the Port of Los Angeles to raise the height of the Vincent Thomas Bridge<\/a>, which connects San Pedro to Terminal Island and Long Beach. <\/p>\n

Hacegaba said that the Port of Long Beach is already \u201cbig ship ready.\u201d The Long Beach International Gateway Bridge, a key artery in the port complex, is 515 feet tall, high enough for the next generation of cargo ships to pass under. <\/p>\n

The Vincent Thomas Bridge is 185 feet tall. <\/p>\n

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach share a space and compete against other global gateways, Hacegaba said. But he wants Long Beach to be the best choice for shippers and marine terminal operators<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo the rest of the world, we are one port complex,\u201d Hacegaba said. \u201cHowever, the ocean carriers, the shippers, they keep score on customer service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hacegaba stepped into his new role this month, eager to usher in the next era at the Port of Long Beach. He said his 15 years working for the port have prepared him for what\u2019s next. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to simplify our mission and we\u2019re going to amplify our impact,\u201d Hacegaba said. \u201cI know what\u2019s working and I know what can work better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite a year of trade volatility and unprecedented tariffs, the Port of Long Beach handled a record amount…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[9754,67413,67412,1285,4194,131,133,132,63,46652,11053,212,1284,3020,62117,29228,67414],"class_list":["post-131511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-cargo","tag-chinese-good","tag-container-last-year","tag-growth","tag-job","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-noel-hacegaba","tag-november","tag-number","tag-port","tag-president-trump","tag-record-year","tag-shipper","tag-trade-volatility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}