Cargo Business Newswire

Monday, April 14, 2014

Long Beach harbor officials say merging with Port of Los Angeles a bad idea

The L.A. 2020 Commission, an independent group of business, labor and civic leaders, issued a series of recommendations Wednesday that included advising the merger of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

"Simply put, this is a bad idea," said Doug Drummond, president of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners. "The Port of Long Beach is not interested in a merger with our neighbor.... I can assure you that the Port of Long Beach is better run by the citizens of Long Beach."

The 2020 Commission report stated that combining the ports makes sense because the combined market share at the two Southern California ports has fallen 5 points in the past decade, even though the two seaports remain the busiest in the nation.

"That drop in market share alone is the size of the fifth-biggest port in the country, Seattle-Tacoma, which accounts for more than 60,000 jobs and has in excess of $100 million in revenue," the commission said. "We should fight to bring those jobs and tax revenues back to Los Angeles."

In the report, the commission expressed concern that after the newly widened Panama Canal opens in 2015, the upgrade may shift business away from California and to ports on the East and Gulf Coast ports.

Outgoing Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster was upset at the recommendation, saying that no one from the 2020 Commission had asked for input from the city.

For more of the L.A. Times story: latimes.com