APM Terminals has completed a $73 million upgrade of its Pier 400 terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, effectively doubling its capacity, the company has announced.
The project added 31,000 linear feet of new track, enabling a 104% increase in rail moves since 2023. On a weekly basis, the terminal has gone from 5,000 rail lifts a week to 11,000, making it one of the busiest among U.S. ports.
“This strategic upgrade enhances the Port of LA’s attractiveness as a gateway for cargo owners who rely on fast, efficient, and well-connected supply chains to serve their customers,” Jon Poelma, managing director of APM Terminals Los Angeles, said in a release.
The facility now features 12 working tracks and 11 storage tracks, with capacity for four full import trains a day for BNSF (NYSE: BRK-B) and Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP). Eastbound containers typically depart in less than two days.
With the on-dock storage, says Chris Brown, chief harbor engineer for design at the Port of LA, Pier 400 is “basically a place where the containers can go straight from the boat into the yard and right onto a train before they even leave the gate.”
APM, a unit of Denmark-based Maersk (OTC: AMKBY) says the expanded storage at Pier 400 benefits operations throughout Terminal Island, creating additional flexibility for an area with multiple rail yards served by only one bridge.
Along with the infrastructure, APM says it has made the increased container handling possible through an operating system built on lean manufacturing principles. Its rail team calculates equipment dispatch rates based on planned move counts, defines repeatable routes with known cycle times, and maintains structured yard observations to address bottlenecks before they become delays. The company says the rail terminal runs more like a production line than a port.
“These aren’t theoretical exercises,” said Camron York, director of operations, Rail & Gate, APM Terminals Los Angeles. “They’re the operational disciplines behind our ability to consistently deliver sub-three-day dwell times.”
The next-door Port of Long Beach, part of the San Pedro Bay complex, is building the Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility to more than triple its on-dock rail capacity to 4.7 million twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year when completed.
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