With the rapid expansion of the port, pollution also increased. Port of Long Beach is the largest container terminal in America. Maersk Line Pacific completes on Pier G a 29-acre container terminal. In 1972 International Transportation Service completes a 52-acre container terminal on Pier J with a 1,200-foot wharf and two gantry cranes. In 1971 Pier J expansion is complete with a 55-acre container and car import terminal, becoming Toyota's Western distribution center. Port of Long Beach, Container terminal, with the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the background Pierpoint Landing completed on Pier F in 1948, becoming a large sport fishing spot.Ĭoncerns regarding subsidence increased until Operation 'Big Squirt,' a water injection program, halted any progression of sinking land in 1960. Pier E was completed and Pier B was expanded to two times its size in 1949. In 1946, after World War II, the Port of Long Beach was established as 'America’s most modern port' with the completion of the first of nine clear-span transit sheds. In 1968, it was replaced by the Gerald Desmond Bridge. The first bridge linking the eastern end of Terminal Island and Long Beach across the Back Channel was an unnamed 'temporary' pontoon bridge constructed during World War II to accommodate traffic resulting from the expansion of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. In 1940 the navy purchased 105 acres on Terminal Island built the Long Beach Naval Shipyard there. Long Beach became a home port for the United States Navy's Pacific Fleet in 1932. On Jthe Federal River and Harbor Act authorizes expanding the San Pedro Bay breakwater by 3.5-mile completed in 1949. Engineers and geologists were promptly assigned to the problem, building dikes for flood control at high tide. The extraction of hundreds of millions of barrels of oil caused concern for subsidence, as the overlying land collapsed into the empty space over time. In the mid-1930s, the port was expanded, largely due to the need to transport oil to foreign markets, as the immense output of oil from the Los Angeles Basin caused a glut in US markets. The first offshore oil well in the harbor was brought online in 1937, shortly after the discovery that the oil field far extended into the harbor. The hundreds of oil wells from Wilmington Oil Field provided oil revenues to the City and Port of Long Beach. In 1932, the fourth-largest oil field in the United States, Wilmington Oil Field, was discovered much of this field was underneath Long Beach and the harbor area itself. In 1921, oil was discovered at the Long Beach Oil Field on and around Signal Hill. īy 1926 more than one million tons of cargo were handled, and additional piers were constructed to accommodate the growing business. In 1925 construction started on Pier A and Pier B, with opening of Pier A in 1930. The old Municipal Pier was rebuilt into the Municipal Wharf in 1925. Due to the booming economy, Long Beach voters approved a $5 million bond to improve the inner and outer harbor in 1924. In 1917, the first Board of Harbor Commissioners was formed to supervise harbor operations. The Port of Long Beach was founded on 800 acres (3.2 km 2) of mudflats on June 24, 1911, at the mouth of the Los Angeles River. The San Pedro Breakwater was started in 1899 and over time was expanded to protect the current site of the Port of Long Beach. Piers F and J and the THUMS Islands, circa 1965-1971. The seaport generates approximately $100 billion per year in trade and employs more than 316,000 people in Southern California. The Port of Long Beach is located less than two miles (3 km) southwest of Downtown Long Beach and approximately 25 miles (40 km) south of Downtown Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for US–Asian trade, the port occupies 3,200 acres (13 km 2) of land with 25 miles (40 km) of waterfront in the city of Long Beach, California. The Port of Long Beach, also known as the Harbor Department of the City of Long Beach, is a container port in the United States, which adjoins Port of Los Angeles. Million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) ( CY 2018)

Long beach port map