Port of Long Beach credit rating raised

Port of Long Beach credit rating raised    The port of Long Beach’s credit rating has been upgraded by three bond rating firms ahead of the issuance of two revenue bonds.
   The ports $239.1 million series 2005A and $26.5 million series 2005B bond sales are scheduled for Thursday. The proceeds will be used to pay off harbor revenue bonds issued in 1995 at a higher interest rate.
   Standard & Poor’s Rating Services raised the port to “AA” from “AA-“. Fitch Ratings assigned its “AA” rating while Moody’s assigned an “Aa3” rating.
   Moody’s also upgraded its outlook for Long Beach port to “positive” from “stable” due to its “significant size and strength among the competitive West Coast container ports, healthy financial margins, high levels of liquidity, and both a sizeable local market and key intermodal connections for transport across the United States,” Moody’s said.