The Port of Long Beach reported its busiest year in its 115-year history in 2025, after processing 9.9 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

Despite Trump administration tariffs fueling near-constant concerns over global trade in 2025, the Port of Long Beach moved more than 9 million TEUs for just the third time in its history, and was the busiest port in the nation for the first four months of the year. In his State of the Port address on January 15, Port of Long Beach CEO Dr. Noel Hacegaba credited that trend to the many importers that sought to frontload cargo ahead of planned tariffs in early 2025, while dubbing 2026 a "year of transition" for the shipping hub. 

"Now we must navigate shifting tides of tariffs and trade policies, and failure is not an option," he said.

With a similarly busy year expected in 2026, the Port of Long Beach is planning to debut a number of new systems and tools designed to improve visibility and reduce congestion. That will start with its newly-announced "CargoNav" system, which will operate as a digital platform, whereby shippers can track cargo movements in real-time. The port is also looking to launch a universal trucking appointment system, making it so that drivers will no longer have to book reservations across the complex one terminal at a time.

With the Port of Long Beach expecting to handle 9 million TEUs in 2026, Hacegaba stressed the need to operate "like a 115-year startup," especially as global supply chains continue to evolve in the face of tariffs and geopolitical disruptions. And while a pending Supreme Court ruling on the legality of President Donald Trump's tariffs could reshape the policy landscape even further, it would do little to remove the uncertainty that has become a permanent feature of global trade planning, Hacegaba noted.

"The only certainty is more uncertainty," he said. 

That uncertainty has already shown up in shifting trade patterns at the port, with volumes from China continuing to ease, while cargo from Southeast Asia gains ground. According to Hacegaba, total cargo tied to China fell from roughly 70% of the port’s trade in 2019 to 60% in 2025, as importers have increasingly sought to source goods from countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. 

Longer term, the Port of Long Beach has an ambitious goal to move 20 million TEUs in a single year by 2050, which would effectively double the shipping hub's throughput. To support that growth, the port is looking to invest heavily in new terminal capacity — including a $1.8 billion expansion of its Pier B rail facility — and has plans to develop the world’s first fully zero-emissions container terminal.