Federal funds totaling $112 million coming to ports of LA, Long Beach

The San Pedro Bay ports will get millions of federal dollars from a maintenance tax overseen but the Army Corps of Engineers.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will receive more than $112 million combined through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Work Plan for construction upgrades, operations and maintenance.

The funding, which U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, announced on Monday, May 13, will go toward wharf and pier construction and repairs.

“San Pedro Bay ports move 40% of the nation’s container imports,” Padilla said in a news release, “transporting goods that power our economy.”

The funds, he added, will pay for “crucial upgrades” that will bolster global supply chains and “make long overdue repairs.”

The money comes from the Harbor Maintenance Tax, collected by the federal government from ports based on the value of imports, on some domestic cargo and on cruise passengers. The fund was established by Congress in 1986 to pay for dredging projects. But the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 expanded its use to include in-water maintenance and repair projects. That allowed for a more equitable distribution among both large and small seaports.

“We have long pushed for a fair share of Harbor Maintenance Tax funding to ports like ours, which traditionally have contributed more to the fund than they received,” Port of Long Beach DEO Mario Cordero, said in a press release.

The Port of L.A. expects to receive $58 million in federal funding while the Port of Long Beach is in line to receive $54 million to support approximately 31 miles of waterfront facilities.

The announcement, said U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Long Beach, marks a significant milestone for the ports.

“As the former mayor of Long Beach,” he said in a statement, “I know first-hand how critical it is to invest in port infrastructure to maintain competitiveness.”

Los Angeles harbor commission President Lucille Roybal-Allard, who formerly served in Congress, expressed gratitude for the support in passing the funding.

“Addressing this disparity has taken years,” Roybal-Allard said in a news release. “We are grateful to all our supporters in the maritime community and Congress.”

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Roybal-Allard added, championed “the cause of allocating these funds more equitably for critical harbor maintenance and repairs that ensure the safety and reliability of all U.S. ports.”

Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka also touted the funding.

“We’ll immediately put this funding to good use,” he said in a statement. “We have important harbor infrastructure projects in the pipeline and this funding will go a long way to accelerating these repairs and ensuring the Port of Los Angeles’ infrastructure remains world class.”

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, for his part, said the funding will help grow his city’s economy even further.

“Making the Harbor Maintenance Tax more equitable,” he said, “will make the port more competitive and improve our harbor, which translates into more jobs and economic growth for Long Beach.”

For more than a decade, the maritime industry has focused on addressing the need for funds for new “expanded use” projects, including seismic upgrades.

The Port of L.A. estimates the total need for navigation maintenance and repair projects to be $6.7 million. In addition to dredging, pending projects include seismic safety upgrades, wharf and fender repairs, pile replacements, sediment removal and remediation, and improvements to slips and channels.

The Port of Long Beach plans to spend $2.3 billion over the next 10 years in capital improvements aimed at enhancing capacity, competitiveness and sustainability. The bulk of the funding is designated for rail projects, but the port also has identified seismic upgrades, and maintaining and repairing existing rock dikes, concrete and steel bulkheads, wharves and other marine structures as needed improvements.

A handful of U.S. ports — including Los Angeles and Long Beach — contribute half of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but has typically recouped just 3% because of their naturally deep harbors and lack of need for maintenance dredging projects.

The $58 million going to the Port of LA, according to news release, is nearly a tenfold increase compared with the $6 million it received in 2023.