A $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal will reverberate 3,000 miles away at the massive Los Angeles and Long Beach ports complex, which for decades, has been the best, fastest and cheapest route between Asia and the United States’ voracious consumer market.
And a large proportion of goods unloaded in Los Angeles and Long Beach are headed inland on truck and rail, some to destinations beyond California, others to logistics centers in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
That has, for years, supported thousands of jobs and paid millions in wages, to the point that logistics is the inland area’s top employer.
Cargo containers from Asia filled with everything from tennis shoes to computers now can take a direct, all-water route to East Coast and southern ports, avoiding the trucks, distribution centers and trains necessary to transfer goods from L.A./Long Beach to far-flung U.S. markets.
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