Port of Los Angeles Receives $21.6 Million Grant for Rail Expansion

LOS ANGELES-The Port of Los Angeles receives a $21.6 million grant from California’s Trade Corridor Enhancement Program. Los Angeles Business Journal reports that the grant goes towards the port’s project to build an on-dock rail system.

In addition to funds from the program, the port is also contributing $12.4 million of its own funds toward the project, bringing the grand total to $34 million in funds. Through the rail system, the news outlet says the port aims to reduce truck trips by 1250 truck trips on the hub by 2040, as well as decrease emissions and congestion on nearby thoroughfares.

The port is a major hub for international trade, accounting for thousands of shipping containers a week from countries like China, South Korea, and Japan. Apparel imports make up one of the largest categories at this hub, taking in more than 300,000 containers in 2017 and ranking as the third-largest category of containerized imports last year.

In a news statement on the port’s website, Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka says expanding the rail yard creates a “creates a ripple effect of intermodal efficiencies within the Port of Los Angeles and throughout the entire San Pedro Bay port complex.”

The expansion will add more than 31,000 feet of rail track to the port’s system and grow the number of storage tracks on the site from six to 11. The port also expects an increase in capacity of as much as 525,000 Twenty-Foot Equivalent units (TEUs) annually, roughly a 10 percent overall increase in capacity for the port. The project aims to strengthen the link between the San Pedro Bay port complex and the Alameda Corridor, which carries roughly 11 percent of all waterborne containers entering and exiting the United States.

For full details on the project, visit https://www.portoflosangeles.org/references/news_102418_railyard_expansion.