Goods Movement

The SCAG region is the national gateway for goods, with the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach (POLA/POLB) accounting for 40% of the containers entering the country and 24% of exports. The Goods Movement industry plays a vital role in the local economy with 1 out of every 7 jobs in Southern California involved in international trade. The SCAG region is highly competitive in Goods Movement with its extensive network of seaports, airports, roadways, railways and intermodal transfer facilities. Despite the recent economic downturn, international trade will continue to have a strong economic impact over the long term with container volumes expected to grow three fold by year 2035.

More than 75% of containers that are arrive at the ports wind up getting transported by trucks. Truck trips are expected to more than double on major freeways by 2030. The rise in container volume at the ports will also see projected increases in the number of freight trains, which is expected to double as well by 2025. The movement of containers from the ports bound for local and national markets poses serious concerns about congestion and air quality, which has significant impacts for businesses and residents throughout the region.

SCAG and its federal, state and local partners are making investments in the transportation infrastructure to handle current and future demand. Some of these investments are being directed at improving the flow of goods from the ports to warehousing and distributions centers located inland and in neighboring states. As investments are being directed to deal with capacity constraints in the transportation system, SCAG and its partners are looking to employ Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to improve the efficiency in which goods are transported using the existing infrastructure. These ITS projects deploy technology strategically to improve the flow of goods through better communications, data sharing, and coordination. The application of ITS to Goods Movement builds upon the successful examples of ITS delivering benefits to drivers through traveler information and trip planning, as well as active management of traffic on arterials and freeways.

To learn more about goods movement services in the region, view the information in the Good Movement Regional ITS Architecture Elements and the Recommended Goods Movement Subregional ITS Architecture Elements documents.