OnTrac Authority Discovers Strong East Coast And West Coast Import/Export Impact in Three-Month Economic Study

National Study reveals Much of Economy Relies on Rail Shipments to and From LA and Long Beach Ports.

OnTracs Chris Becker says the Orangethorpe Rail Corridor moves about 15 percent of all US waterborne trade from the ports destined for the Midwest and Eastern U.S.

    Los Angeles -- March 18, 2002, The Orange North-American Trade Rail Access Corridor (OnTrac) Authority (www.ontrac-jpa.org) and the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) have released some surprising early results of a three-month economic impact study of cargo shipments in the country.

    At least two out of five Orange County Supervisorial Districts showed more than a billion dollars in the value of all trade moving through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach," said Chris Becker, chief operating officer, OnTrac. District Two leads the way with $2.3 billion dollars in year 2000 in total imports and exports."

    Orange County Supervisorial District #2 includes the cities of Costa Mesa, Cypress, Grove (portion of), Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos and a portion of Santa Ana, as well as the unincorporated areas of Anaheim Islands, Rossmoor, Sunset Beach and Surfside. For year 2000, figures compiled by LAEDC and BST Associates, a Bothell, Washington consulting firm, show a total value of products flowing in and out of District Two from ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach total around $2.3 billion ($2,336, 637,467.)

    The Orange County Supervisorial District #3 has the second highest value of all trade moving through the Ports of LA and Long Beach at $1.2 Billion ($1,207,624,548.00). District Three includes the cities of Brea, Fullerton, La Habra, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Villa Park, and Yorba Linda, portions of Orange, Santa Ana and Tustin. Additionally, Supervisorial District Three includes unincorporated areas of Cowan Heights, Foothill Ranch, lemon Heights, orange hills, orange Park Acres, Portola Hills and Tustin Foothills. The district also includes Modjeska Canyon, Santiago Canyon, Silverado Canyon, and Trabucco Canyon.

    The third highest value of all trade passing through the Ports of LA and Long Beach last year was recorded in Orange County Supervisor District #4, which totaled nearly $540 million ($539,243,825.00). District Four includes the cities of Anaheim, Buena Park, La Palma, a portion of Orange and Placentia, as well as unincorporated areas of Cypress Islands, El Modena, Oliver and West Anaheim.

    The Orange County Supervisorial District #5 recorded a total value of products flowing in and out of the Ports of LA and Long Beach at around $217 million ($216,793,581.00).
District #1 recorded the lowest last year at around $174 million ($174,790,801.00).

    Meanwhile, the California US Congressional District #37, which includes LA County and the City of Los Angels, Carson, Compton, Long Beach, Torrance and Lynwood, recorded a value of more than $12 billion ($12,438,911,737.00) worth of products flowing in and out of Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. The Congressional District #32, which encompasses urban downtown Los Angels and suburban communities recorded a whopping $80 million plus ($80,322,509) in value of imports and exports last year.

    Congressional District #24,which includes parts of Ventura and Los Angeles counties showed almost $259 million last year in the value of products flowing in and out from Ports of LA and Long Beach. District 14 that includes the Silicon Valley recorded nearly a million dollars ($826,706,911) in the value of products flowing in and out from LA and Long Beach ports.

    What surprises a lot of people tracking these results are the figures turning up in Northern and Southern California, too," said Becker. For example Congressional District 8, which includes the city of San Francisco, recorded more than a half-million dollars ($516,577,451.00) in the value of products flowing in and out of the district from Ports of Los angels and Long Beach."

    Becker also noted another startling record turned up in Congressional District 3, which includes Tehama, Glenn, Colusa, Sutter, Yolo and Sacramento and Solano counties. Nearly $100 million ($96,606,326.00) was recorded in year 2,000, in the value of products such as primary metals, crop production, forestry and logging, machinery, computers, electrical equipment and food and tobacco.

    What this means is the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are secret gold mines of the countrys congressional district, which are quietly producing thousands of jobs each year, and a boost to the nations economy," explained Becker.

    The top five exporters in Orange County last year included: Eagleton Metals, $239 million (Dist. 2); Five Start International, $134 million (Dist. 2) and Topy enterprises,
$111 million (Dist. 5). Orange County Supervisorial District #2 recorded four out of the top five importers last year. Hyundai Motor America led the list at $598 million year, followed by Yamaha Motors, $544 million, Sharp Electronics, and $136 million, Q Run (electronic computers). Suzuki Motor in Orange County Supervisorial District #3 rounds out the top five importers at $255 million.

         In the early 1990's the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority (ACTA) commissioned BST Associates to prepare a trade impact study that detailed the many benefits water borne Southern California Trade to the rest of the nation," said Chris Becker, chief operating officer, OnTrac. The study provided insight on the local, state and federal tax revenues and job creation (on a nationwide Congressional District Basis) as a result of two-way trade through Southern California. We are hoping that U.S. Congressional members in the Midwest and East Coast will directly see the local importance of Southern California trade, to their Congressional districts."

    We find it astounding that the volume of container traffic moving on the Orangethorpe Rail corridor is approximately 15 percent of the total imports and exports that are delivered by rail to the rest of the country," explained Becker. We wanted to know what the volume of container traffic is nationwide, state-by-state, and in each Congressional district." Contact: Aida Mayo, MAYO Communications 818.340.5300, Cell 818.618.9229

amayo@MayoCommunications.com