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 re-
corded 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 ship-
ping 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 sur-
facing 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 recom-
mending continued port development in San Pedro Bay, 
resulting in additional improvements to the harbor in-
cluding the first 8,500-foot section of the Federal break-
water that was completed in 1911, widening and dredg-
ing of the Main Channel to accommodate the largest ves-
sels 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 simulta-
neously; 
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 Ship-
building Corp., Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Consoli-
dated Steel Corp., Todd Shipyards, and other enterprises 
collectively employing more than 90,000 workers; 
Whereas in August 1958, the HAWAIIAN MERCHANT de-
livered its first shipment of 20 cargo containers to the 
Port of Los Angeles, marking the beginning of the con-
tainerized 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 trans-
portation infrastructure solutions by working in partner-
ship with local, regional, and statewide agencies to im-
prove 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 re-
sponsibility for infrastructure and operational improve-
ments that are supportive of sustainable growth compat-
ible with environmental stewardship, the most recent ex-
ample 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 (twenty- 
foot 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 Di-
rector Geraldine Knatz, the Port is celebrating its Cen-
tennial, 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 inter-
national leader in setting global standards for industry- 
leading 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 Na-
tion’s largest containerport; 
(2) congratulates the Port of Los Angeles for its 
achievements as a leader throughout its history in imple-
menting modern and innovative transportation and 
goods movements systems that are compatible with re-
sponsible environmental stewardship; and
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(3) wishes the Port of Los Angeles continued suc-
cess during its next 100 years as it strives to remain the 
Nation’s largest and most successful conveyor of the Na-
tion’s and the world’s commerce. 
Attest: 
Clerk.