LASA braved the pouring rain to visit the Port of Los Angeles in November to learn more about the state of the port as well as global marine exploration and trade. We began on Terminal Island at Yusen Terminals (YTI) with a tour of their terminal space with Director of Communications Fran Ohlheiser. Max shared his reflection of the tour:

The port tour gave me a completely new understanding of the scale and logistical precision behind global trade. Before visiting, I never fully grasped what it actually takes for a product labeled “MADE IN CHINA” to reach a store shelf in Los Angeles. Seeing the process up close made every statistic feel real. One of the most striking parts of the tour was learning about the 15 blue RTGs (rubber tired gantry cranes) that deliver and stack containers across the terminals. I was amazed at how central they are in orchestrating container movement, and even more impressed by how the port is adapting them for the future. By 2028, half of
these RTGs will be electrified, marking a huge step toward cleaner operations. It’s fascinating that an industry once so heavily dependent on fuel is now capable of electrifying so much of its operations and it gives me genuine optimism about our path toward environmental sustainability. Another detail that I found interesting about the RTGs was that they currently operate the world’s only hydrogen fueled RTG, developed in partnership with Toyota. Seeing such an experimental piece of machinery in action made me realize how the port serves not just as a trade hub, but also as a testing ground for the future of green logistics. The hydrogen fueled RTG is a symbol of progress and hope. We also learned about TEUs, or twenty foot equivalent units, which helped me understand scale in a way numbers alone never could. A single ship can carry ~14,000 twenty foot containers, each weighing up to ~67,000 pounds (which I saw on the markings alongside the containers) when fully loaded. Thinking about the sheer mass of goods moving across the global economy every day and how long it must take to unload all of it, was fascinating in the sense that it was almost too much to unpack. It made me appreciate the coordination required among longshore workers, RTG operators, truck drivers, and support teams to keep everything running in such an intricate system where every single factor matters.

Furthermore, I thought the way politics influenced the volume of ships was quite interesting. The increase in tariffs led to a surge in ship deliveries and now is leading to the decline in ship traffic. Overall, the tour made me more aware of how interconnected our everyday lives are with the systems at the Port of Los Angeles. I will genuinely think about this experience every time I order something online or see a container ship in the news.

We then crossed over the Vincent Thomas Bridge and visited AltaSea at Berth 58. Former head of the Port, board member at AltaSea, and Professor at USC, Geraldine Knatz shared a broader history of the San Pedro Port Complex and recent data trends in air quality. Madeline reflected: Thank you so much for another great experience! I really appreciated seeing the ports because I don’t usually think about how the clothes we wear and the food we eat actually come here. Going into this trip, I wasn’t sure what to expect or even what the port did, but I left a much more impactful understanding of how this process works. It also includes a lot of jobs that I’ve never thought about, so it helped me understand a group of people I’d never thought about in addition to giving me a greater appreciation for them. In particular, hearing about how the port becoming overwhelmed during the pandemic led to the supply chain issues and inflation that we all experienced was really impactful because it had a noticeable impact on my life and demonstrated how Los Angeles and the rest of the U.S. really couldn’t function without the port. Another thing I found interesting was the connection between COVID and raised emissions because the ideas about lowering the climate impact in general were interesting but this connection was unexpected for me.

Geraldine also helped arrange a LASA visit with members of the crew of the Nautilus, part of Ocean Exploration Trust. Newly returned from their expedition of “deep-sea habitats around Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, [and] the Solomon Islands,” they shared about their work, potential internships, as well as gave LASA a chance to examine three of their ROVs.

Taylor summed up the entire day: Who knew a shipping port could be so interesting? Definitely not me, but there was much to learn during this trip! Every LASA trip I am more and more amazed at how much work occurs in the background of the bigger picture of things; from food banks to Olympics and all the way down to consumer shipping processes, there are so many people, procedures, and regulations that help make LA function the way it does. It was extremely interesting learning about these massive cargo ships that carry just about everything I order from Amazon. One shocking thing I learned today was how much cargo shipping is done on sea versus air; for some reason, I had the preconception that much of the items that required shipping were done through air, but after this trip I now know how expensive airfreight is compared to seafreight (an $150 cargo ship trip is $1000 if done through air)! Another major thing I learned was how dangerous jobs in this industry are; to think that everyday is risking your life because of how large and
complicated cargo ship unloading systems are, is crazy to me since typical jobs you might think of don’t come with the same precautions. I think this definitely highlights to me how important hard labor jobs are in America and yet that fact is not nearly emphasized enough in society; typically we just see what those laborers produced like shipped items and produce. It’s easy to disregard the steps taken just for a bit of fruit or my new phone stand to get to where I am now; much respect for those industries. It was also SO COOL to see the Nautilus and talk to people who worked with that organization! I think the best part of it was learning that the career they do now wasn’t always in the books and that’s ok; super reassuring for college and my future. I’m glad we had the opportunity to learn about the history of the Port of LA and how AltaSea is taking the necessary measures to decrease LA’s carbon footprint; I wish this much of a change was prevalent all over the world! Another thing I thoroughly enjoyed learning about was how when the Hercules is in motion, it is also a public livestream for the world; I think this detail is so incredibly encouraging to our society because these
researchers are willing to open the doors of what their exploration looks like to students like me! I am definitely going to be looking at their past adventures and findings! All in all, today was such an exciting day with lots of knowledge gained; though the rainy weather persisted, it sort of added to the atmosphere of the port and I enjoyed it even more!

Thank you to Fran, Geraldine, Samantha and her crew members, Freddie and Robin at AltaSea, and all our teachers and students for making the final LASA of 2025 such a terrific day.