H. Res. 822 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

December 5, 2007. 

Whereas on December 9, 1907, the Los Angeles City Council 

approved City Ordinance No. 15621, creating the Board 

of Harbor Commissioners and officially founding the Port 

of Los Angeles; 

Whereas the Port of Los Angeles’s earliest history was recorded by Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo 

who named this natural harbor ‘‘Bahia de los Fumos’’ or 

‘‘Bay of Smokes’’ on October 8, 1542, when he noted 

that the bay ‘‘is an excellent harbor and the country is 

good with many plains and groves of trees’’; 

Whereas in the 1850s, a spirited entrepreneur named 

Phineas Banning began the first of a lifetime of ventures 

that would eventually earn him distinction as the ‘‘Father 

of Los Angeles Harbor’’ by leading the evolution of the 

harbor from a trading center for fur and hides to a hub 

for more diverse commerce, largely through a freight and 

passenger transportation business that grew into a shipping firm with 15 stagecoaches and 50 wagons serving 

five western States; 

Whereas the Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad began 

service between San Pedro Bay and Los Angeles in 1869 

as a 21-mile stretch of track comprising the first railroad 
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in Southern California and marking the beginning of a 

new era of development for the harbor region; 

Whereas proposals for new ports in present-day Santa 

Monica, Marina del Rey, and Redondo Beach began surfacing in the late 1800s until 1897, when a five-man 

board of engineers, chaired by Rear Admiral John C. 

Walker, settled the great free-harbor fight by recommending continued port development in San Pedro Bay, 

resulting in additional improvements to the harbor including the first 8,500-foot section of the Federal breakwater that was completed in 1911, widening and dredging of the Main Channel to accommodate the largest vessels of that era, and completion by the Southern Pacific 

Railroad of its first major wharf in San Pedro, allowing 

railcars to efficiently load and unload goods simultaneously; 

Whereas the Port was involved in World War II on a massive 

scale, with every vessel building operation assisting in the 

construction, conversion, and repair of vessels for the war 

effort, and shipbuilding quickly became the Port of Los 

Angeles’s prime economic activity, with California Shipbuilding Corp., Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Consolidated Steel Corp., Todd Shipyards, and other enterprises 

collectively employing more than 90,000 workers; 

Whereas in August 1958, the HAWAIIAN MERCHANT delivered its first shipment of 20 cargo containers to the 

Port of Los Angeles, marking the beginning of the containerized cargo revolution in California; 

Whereas the Port was a principal partner of the 

$2,500,000,000 Alameda Corridor project which opened 

in April 2002 as a 20-mile rail expressway that reliably 

and efficiently connects the Port to America’s trans-
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continental rail system, a project which epitomizes the 

Port’s involvement in developing robust regional transportation infrastructure solutions by working in partnership with local, regional, and statewide agencies to improve goods movement systems; 

Whereas the Port’s 2004 completion of the nearly 500-acre 

Pier 400 container complex as the largest single-user 

container terminal in the world has been acclaimed as an 

engineering marvel and model of operational efficiency; 

Whereas the Port of Los Angeles has long recognized its responsibility for infrastructure and operational improvements that are supportive of sustainable growth compatible with environmental stewardship, the most recent example being a historic November 2006 action by the 

Boards of Harbor Commissioners of Los Angeles and 

Long Beach in approving an aggressive plan to reduce 

air pollution by nearly 50 percent in 5 years, making the 

San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan the world’s 

first program addressing all port-related emission sources 

to significantly reduce health risks posed by regional air 

pollution from port-related operations; 

Whereas the Port of Los Angeles is located in San Pedro 

Bay, California, and is part of the Southern California 

port complex which handles more than 43 percent of all 

goods arriving in the United States, impacting over 

1,000,000 jobs nationwide; 

Whereas as a premier international gateway, the Port of Los 

Angeles is the leading container handling port in the 

United States, with more than 8,500,000 TEU’s (twentyfoot equivalent units) recorded in 2006, thus retaining its 

stature as the leading United States containerport for the 

seventh consecutive year; 
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Whereas the Port of Los Angeles as part of the San Predro 

Bay Port Complex has grown 246 percent over the past 

11 years, tripling its trade-related jobs, generating 

$256,000,000,000 in commerce, and producing 

$28,000,000,000 in tax revenue, and is expected to triple 

again the amount of cargo handled by 2030; 

Whereas in 2007, under the leadership of Los Angeles Mayor 

Antonio Villaraigosa, President S. David Freeman and 

the Board of Harbor Commissioners, and Executive Director Geraldine Knatz, the Port is celebrating its Centennial, commemorating the great strides made in its 

100-year tradition of service as an international trade 

hub and maritime industry leader; and 

Whereas from its tradition of handling fishing, lumber, and 

hides at the turn of the century to today’s reputation for 

expeditiously moving a diverse, unprecedented global 

cargo mix, the Port of Los Angeles now looks toward its 

next 100 years with a legacy as an undisputed international leader in setting global standards for industryleading environmental initiatives, terminal efficiency, and 

sustainable growth: Now, therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

(1) recognizes the 100th anniversary year of the 

founding of the Port of Los Angeles, which is the Nation’s largest containerport; 

(2) congratulates the Port of Los Angeles for its 

achievements as a leader throughout its history in implementing modern and innovative transportation and 

goods movements systems that are compatible with responsible environmental stewardship; and 
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(3) wishes the Port of Los Angeles continued success during its next 100 years as it strives to remain the 

Nation’s largest and most successful conveyor of the Nation’s and the world’s commerce. 

Attest: 

Clerk.