The Port of Long Beach is one of the busiest ports in the world, and as of 2005 it was the second busiest seaport in the United States. The port primarily serves as the shipping hub between the United States and the Pacific Rim. The combined operations of the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles are the busiest in the nation.

Shipping is conducted by container vessels and rail shipping. Rail shipping is provided by Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway, which carry about half of the trans-shipments from the port.

Acting as a major gateway for US--Asian trade, the port occupies 3,200 acres of land with 25 miles of waterfront in the city of Long Beach. The Port of Long Beach is located less than two miles southwest of Downtown Long Beach. Trade conducted via the seaport is estimated to have a value of approximately $100 billion dollars and provides more than 300,000 jobs in Southern California.

The Port of Long Beach was originally founded in 1911 at the mouth of the Los Angeles River. In 1921, oil was discovered at the Long Beach Oil Field on and around Signal Hill, and in 1932 the Wilmington Oil Field was discovered, the fourth-largest in the United States. Hundreds of oil wells provided oil revenues to the City and Port of Long Beach, and the first offshore oil well in the harbor was brought online in 1937.

Fast-forward to 1980 when the United States normalized relations with China. Within a year the China Ocean Shipping Co. chose Long Beach Port its first US port-of-call. The development of trade relationships with other countries continued in the years following. In 1997, approximately one million containers were inbound to the Port. By 2005, it had tripled to nearly 3.3 million containers.

In 2005, the port adopted the Green Port Policy in an effort to protect the community from harmful environmental impacts by improving air and water quality as well as cleaning soil and undersea sediments. In 2007, the seaport launched the first stage of its Clean Air Action Plan by approving a Clean Trucks Program that bans old diesel trucks from serving the Port.

The Port of Long Beach is at the heart of American commerce and is vital to the nation’s economy.