Origin market
Los Angeles, CA
The Los Angeles market is built around the San Pedro Bay ports. The two ports together hold 31% of U.S. containerized waterborne trade, and the Port of Los Angeles alone handled 10.2 million TEUs in 2025. Its top imports were furniture, auto parts, plastic products, apparel and electronics. From the ports, freight moves by on-dock rail, the 20-mile Alameda Corridor and near-dock rail yards, or by truck to warehouses around the harbor and inland. Mexico freight leaves the region by highway toward the Otay Mesa border crossing at San Diego.
Industries: Imported consumer goods, auto parts and electronics, recycled paper and agricultural exports, apparel and textiles, air cargo
- Seaport: Two adjacent container ports in San Pedro Bay. 10.2 million TEUs at the Port of Los Angeles in 2025; the two ports together hold 31% of U.S. containerized waterborne trade (operating). Source
- On-dock rail: One near-dock rail yard and five on-dock rail yards serve the seven container terminals at the Port of Los Angeles. More than 65 miles of on-dock track (operating). Source
- Rail expressway: Alameda Corridor, a below-grade freight line from the ports to the downtown rail yards. 20 miles, built for 150 trains a day (operating). Source
- Class I intermodal yards: Five off-dock mainline rail yards, three operated by Union Pacific and two by BNSF; the Hobart/Commerce and East Los Angeles yards near downtown Los Angeles handle the majority of intermodal cargo. About 24 miles north of the ports (operating). Source
- Rail yard expansion: On-dock rail yard at the Port of Long Beach growing from 82 to 171 acres for 10,000-foot trains, with completion set for 2032. $1.8 billion program (under construction). Source
- Foreign-trade zone: Foreign-Trade Zone 202 magnet site in Carson. 353.6 acres, 2.11 acres activated (operating). Source
- Airport: Los Angeles International Airport air cargo (operating). Source
Distribution: Warehouses and cross-docks around the harbor, in Carson's foreign-trade zone and in Vernon, an industrial city of 5.2 square miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.