Port Productivity: 2024 Rankings
Special Report
LBCT( pictured) and TraPac are the only fully automated container terminals on the US West Coast. Chizhevskaya Ekaterina / Shutterstock. com have about 3,000 linear feet of available wharf space. It will be located just south of the port’ s Pier 400, the largest container terminal in the US and operated by APM Terminals.
No cost estimate was provided by the port. The TEU capacity of the new terminal will depend on the type of terminal the winning developer decides to build— i. e., manual or automated— and an actual construction timeline won’ t be known until all environmental clearances are secured.
In the meantime, stakeholders in Los Angeles are trying to convince the California Department of Transportation( Caltrans) to expand the Vincent Thomas Bridge redecking project to include raising the bridge to allow lager ships to call the other half of its terminals.
Increasing the height of the bridge by 26 feet would allow super-post-Panamax vessels of up to 23,000 TEUs to serve Yusen Terminals, TraPac and the West Basin Container Terminal, increasing the effective capacity of those terminals by roughly 20 %, according to Seroka.
However, the proposal would also increase the total cost of the project
from $ 1.5 billion to $ 2.2 billion and extend its timeline— and, in turn, disruptions to truck traffic in and out of the port— from 16 months to 28 months. The Vincent Thomas Bridge is crossed daily by 53,000 vehicles, about 3,400 of which are heavyduty trucks, according to Caltrans.
“ Infrastructure like this always has a 20- to 30- year horizon.”
Seeking PMA operator
In its request for proposals to develop Pier 500, Los Angeles will specify that it seeks to contract with a member company of the Pacific Maritime Association( PMA) that pledges to follow the guidelines for terminal operations on the US West Coast, Seroka said. The PMA, which consists of ocean carriers and terminal operators, negotiates and administers the coastwide waterfront contract with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union( ILWU).
The pre-development process will include all necessary environmental assessments required by both state and federal law.
“ The entire proposed Pier 500 project, from pre-development, entitlement procurement and environmental review and full buildout and operation is expected to take approximately 10 years,” the port said in a statement.
Development and construction are expected to move forward faster than most new terminals built on landfill, Seroka said, because the port has identified a submerged 124-acre landfill site that is only 15 feet below the water line.
“ We’ ll cap off the 15 feet, so construction should proceed quicker than for most projects,” Seroka said.“ We’ ve been dumping rocks there for years from various construction projects.”
While construction proceeds, Los Angeles will continue to implement operational improvements at the port and enhance its data-sharing efforts with port stakeholders, including shipping lines, terminal operators, drayage operators, railroads and warehouse operators, to squeeze greater productivity from the existing infrastructure, Seroka said.
email: bill. mongelluzzo @ spglobal. com www. joc. com November 3, 2025 | Journal of Commerce 23