Ports Priefs: POLA and Partners Donate Air Purifyers to LAUSD and POLB Sees Strong Start for 2025

Photo courtesy of Port of Long Beach

Port of Los Angeles, Logistics Partners Facilitate Air Purifier Donation to LAUSD Schools

LOS ANGELES— The Port of Los Angeles Feb. 13 helped facilitate the delivery of 580 air purifiers donated by Chicago Public Schools or CPS to the Los Angeles Unified School District or LAUSD, which was heavily impacted by the fires that swept through Los Angeles in January.

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The Council of Great City Schools, a coalition of 78 urban public school systems across the nation, coordinated the donation, linking two of their largest district partners, LAUSD and CPS, with the port to find a method for transporting 90 pallets worth of purifiers and filters from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Port officials tapped global logistics company, C.H. Robinson, which provided transportation for the cross-country journey. C.H. Robinson along with BNSF, Day N Night Transportation, DCLI, and Legend all donated services to this effort free of charge. The final pallet delivery arrived at the LAUSD warehouse earlier this week. Purifiers should begin making their way into classrooms soon.

Port of Long Beach Sees Strong Start For 2025

LONG BEACH —The Port of Long Beach started the new year with its strongest January on record and its second-busiest month ever, largely driven by retailers moving cargo ahead of the anticipated tariffs on goods from China, Mexico and Canada.

Dockworkers and terminal operators moved 952,733 twenty-foot equivalent units in January, up 41.4% from the same month last year and surpassing the previous record, set in January 2022, by 18.9%. Imports jumped 45% to 471,649 TEUs and exports rose 14% to 98,655 TEUs. Empty containers moving through the port climbed 45.9% to 382,430 TEUs.

“It’s encouraging to start off the year so strongly. As we head into 2025, I thank and congratulate all of our partners for their hard work,” said Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero. “We will continue to focus on enhancing both our competitiveness and sustainability, no matter the uncertainties in the supply chain.”

The strong start to 2025 marks the Port’s eighth consecutive monthly year-over-year cargo increase and follows a record-breaking year with 9,649,724 TEUs moved in 2024.