The port's container business accounts for more than 80 percent of its revenue. About 50 percent of the containerized shipments are discretionary, which means they are headed to destinations outside of Southern California.

"Protecting and retaining discretionary cargo market share in the face of changing economic conditions and intensifying competition is the key to the future of the port and the region," the port stated in the 2012-2017 Strategic Plan.

Los Angeles handled 6,034,474 loaded 20-foot equivalent unit containers in 2011, according to PIERS, the Port Import-Export Service of the Journal of Commerce. Los Angeles last year handled 21 percent of the total U.S. container volume.

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