PORT OF OAKLAND
John C. Driscoll, Maritime director

FTZ No. 56
Big Ship Ready: Yes
Rail: BNSF, UP
Highways: I-80, I-580, I-880, I-980
Days to Shanghai: 15
Top Exports: Fruits/Nuts, Meat, Machinery
Cargo Types: Bulk, Break Bulk, Container

What infrastructure additions has the port made to support shippers over the past two years?
There are 360 acres of land being developed immediately adjacent to the port’s marine terminals. The first phase of the project includes new roadways, utilities and other infrastructure improvements. We’re also constructing a new rail yard to support intermodal transport of customer cargo.

What’s your most under-appreciated asset?
Our rail capability. The Port of Oakland has two, competitive, Class 1 railroads: BNSF and UP which are world class, service-oriented carriers that offer a wide range of intermodal and bulk services that complement our port operations. They provide excellent connectivity to the upper 48 states as well as Canadian provinces.

What’s your biggest locational advantage?
Serving the Northern California mega-region with a population of 14.5 million customers and regionally with 37.2 million customers within a seven-hour drive. Our intermodal rail and truck connections reach more than 50 percent of the U.S. population within two to three days. Also, the Port of Oakland has one of the shortest trans-Pacific times to Asia, generally three days shorter than Southern California ports, and competitive with Pacific Northwest ports.

PORT OF LOS ANGELES
Chris Chase, Business Development manager

FTZ No. 202
Highways: I-110, I-405, I-710
Rail: UP, BNSF, Pacific Harbor Lines
Big Ship Ready: Yes
Days to Shanghai: 20
Top Exports: Paper, Scrap Metal, Grains/Flour
Cargo Types: Container, Break Bulk, Liquid Bulk

What’s your biggest locational advantage?
Obviously, if you’re sourcing product from or sending product to Asia, we’re very close. There is access to a local market that is about 30 million people and includes Las Vegas and Arizona. And then, of course, there is the climate. We don’t have winter, so to speak.

What’s your elevator pitch?
One is our deep water and we have the infrastructure to handle the big ships which is where the market is going and we have that already. As far as warehousing is concerned, you can basically do your local, regional and national distributing out of the same building in Southern California, instead of having to have warehouse space all over the country.

What’s your most under-appreciated asset?
I would say it is the rail access we provide. It’s such a huge part of what we do and there are lots of opportunities such as our on-dock rail yards and on-dock intermodal service.

PORT OF LONG BEACH
Jon Slangerup, chief executive

FTZ No. 50
Big Ship Ready: Yes
Rail: BNSF, UP, Pacific Harbor Lines
Highways: I-710
Days to China: 13
Top Exports: Bulk Coke, Wastepaper, Food
Cargo Types: Container, Liquid Bulk, Dry Bulk

What infrastructure additions has the port made to support shippers over the past two years?
We’ve been working very hard on a major terminal expansion. We call the project Middle Harbor. It will increase capacity from a million TEUs per year to over 3 million. In fact, it will represent probably the third or fourth busiest port in the United States. Phase one of that, 50 percent of its capacity, comes on stream this fall, and of course it’s all big ship ready.

What is your most under-appreciated asset?
I think that our people probably are unsung in terms of how incredibly talented and successful they are at managing what is a very complex infrastructure here. I would say they’re probably not nearly as appreciated or recognized for what they really do every day.

What’s your elevator pitch?
We are the most efficient port complex in the United States. We have the natural advantage of deep water and are the closest and fastest gateway from Asia into the interior of the U.S. Our rail connections are unmatched. We have 1.5 billion square feet of warehouse space adjacent to the port and within a 100-mile radius—and all of that creates a supply chain and logistics structure that is really unmatched.

PORT OF RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA
Big Ship Ready: No
Rail: BNSF, UP
Highways: I-80, I-580
Days to Shanghai: 15
Top Exports: Vegetable Oils, Scrap Metal, Coke
Cargo Types: Break Bulk, Liquid Bulk, Ro/Ro

PORT OF STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA
FTZ No. 231
Big Ship Ready: No
Rail: BNSF, UP
Highways: I-5, Hwy 4
Days to Mexico: 4
Top Exports: Sulphur, Wheat, Bagged Rice
Cargo Types: Break Bulk, Liquid Bulk

PORT OF HUENEME, CALIFORNIA
FTZ No. 205
Big Ship Ready: No
Rail: Ventura County Railroad
Highways: U.S. 101
Days to Ecuador: 7
Top Exports: Fresh Fruit, Autos, General Cargo