Shipping is conducted at the Port of Long Beach 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.

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 occupies 3,200 acres of land and has 10 piers, 80 berths and 71 post-Panamax gantry cranes to accommodate hundreds of shipping companies each year.

Since 1981, the China Ocean Shipping Co. and other international companies have used Long Beach Port as their main US port-of-call. In 2010 the port handled more than 6 million containers.

Hundreds of companies use the Port of Long Beach, including Hyundai, Yang Ming, Hanjin, CSAV Norasia, Hamburg Sud, Polynesia Line, Maersk, COSCO, K Line, Hainan P O Shipping, Matson, Wan Hai, Cemex, Morton Salt, National Gypsum Company, Mitsubishi Cement, Tesoro, BP and many more.

The Port of Long Beach’s top trading partners by tonnage are China, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Iraq, Australia, Ecuador and Indonesia. Topping the list of imports are crude oil, electronics, plastics, furniture and clothing. Exports include petroleum coke, petroleum bulk, chemicals, waste paper and foods.

The Port of Long Beach is the second busiest port in the United States and the 18th busiest container cargo port in the world. If combined, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles would be the world's sixth-busiest port complex.

The Los Angeles area benefits from the port in terms of both jobs and revenue. More than $5 billion a year in US Customs revenues comes from the Long Beach/Los Angeles ports. Governments see about $4.9 billion a year in local, state and general federal taxes from port-related trade. The port accounts for more than $47 billion in direct and indirect business sales yearly, and contributes nearly $14.5 billion in annual trade-related wages.