In his first official trip to California as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg visited the Port of Long Beach Tuesday to highlight recent progress in clearing the shipping backlog and to celebrate long-overdue investments in port infrastructure.
“We’re very proud of what was achieved here,” Buttigieg said, noting that the ports handled a record-breaking amount of cargo last year despite supply chain disruptions. Shipments were up 14% in 2021 compared with the previous record set in 2018.
Last month, Buttigieg announced the DOT would award a $52 million grant to the Port of Long Beach to add a rail facility that will allow goods to be transported directly to warehouses in the inland empire without the use of polluting trucks.