Port of Los Angeles Awarded $8 Million to Accelerate Its Port Optimizer Technology

LOS ANGELES — The Port of Los Angeles’ Port Optimizer™ technology data portal will receive a series of major enhancements, thanks to an $8 million grant from the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development GO-Biz. The award was the largest of five GO-Biz grants totaling $27 million to improve data and supply chain functionality across California’s port network.

First introduced in 2017 and the only port community data platform of its kind in operation in North America, the Port Optimizer is a cloud-based information portal that digitalizes maritime shipping data for cargo owners and supply chain stakeholders through a secure single access point. By integrating data from across the port ecosystem, the portal enables ports and the supply chain to operate more efficiently and helps cargo owners bring their goods to market in a more predictable and timely manner.

The $8 million GO-Biz grant will accelerate the development and deployment of three new enhancement tools for the Port Optimizer.

The grant will expand enhancements to the port’s truck appointment system, now under development. Specifically, the grant will enable interoperability with the Port of Long Beach allowing bay-wide coverage for a new universal truck appointment system that will improve the ease of identifying, moving and managing containers across the entire San Pedro Bay port complex.

It will also provide funding for the development of a new California Ports Mobile Application (CalPorts) providing mobile access to the Port Optimizer and other port dashboards when available. CalPorts will make it easier for California ports to send and receive data on items like cargo status, which will help reduce supply chain disruptions and allow stakeholders to better anticipate operational issues. CalPorts will also provide the capability for sharing environmental performance and port security data, among other information.  

Another enhancement to the Port Optimizer will be the addition of a single, online gateway for collecting carbon impacts of port operations. The gateway, once developed, will provide users a near real-time Green Asset Score based on rail, trucking, vessel, and on-port equipment particulate and GHG emissions. Using this score, the gateway will help Port Optimizer stakeholders select more optimal routes that balance cargo speed and emissions impacts.