Comparison · San Pedro Bay · ten tariff lines read 07/28–07/29/2026

Los Angeles and Long Beach differ by two dollars on the median and by the terminal on everything that decides an invoice

⚑ The short answer

Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach are priced together by most of the fourteen tariff lines that reach each. The two medians land ten dollars apart, $275 against $280, on medians near $290. Choosing between the two ports on that number is choosing on a difference the tariffs mostly do not draw.
Los Angeles and Long Beach share a ceiling of $370 and separate in the middle by $10. The same carriers price the two ports within a few dollars of each other, and where they differ it is inside one document — Hapag-Lloyd by $35 at its dearest Long Beach berth.
Container terminals decide this comparison and they cross the port line. HMM charges $210 at four named terminals and $270 everywhere else in the bay, and that cheaper group spans both ports rather than sitting inside one. A discount that ignores the boundary is proof the boundary is not the variable.
Los Angeles and Long Beach are asked about here as a freight question, and three other questions arrive on the same words: which cruise terminal, whether San Pedro is a third port, and a port in Washington State with a similar name. None of the three is answered on this page, and each is named so you can leave early.

Six of ten tariff lines do not distinguish the two portsTwo carriers price the gap inside their own documentsOne cost line of five is read — and it could invert

Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach share a bay, a carrier tariff group and, as it turns out, almost the same median. Here is what each one is, before the comparison starts.

How this comparison is built · what we are paid

Both columns are built from the same nine carrier import tariffs, read directly, with the dates we read them.
Medians are taken over all-in rows only and rounded to the dollar: the eight Long Beach rows give exactly $280.50.
The two volume figures are never compared. One is a calendar year and the other a half-year, and the period sits inside each cell for that reason.
Where a document was not read, the cell says which kind of not-read it is — found but unopened, or never located. Those are statements about our reading, not about the ports.
Neither port has paid to appear here or to be described in any particular way, and no link on this site is a referral link.

The two ports side by side. Every figure carries the period it belongs to.
	Port of Los Angeles	Port of Long Beach
UN/LOCODE	USLAX	USLGB
Port authority	City of Los Angeles Harbor Department	City of Long Beach Harbor Department
Latest volume figure	10,239,318 TEUcalendar 2025Port of Los Angeles · read 07/26/2026	4,829,578 TEU, +1.7%first half of 2026 — not comparable with the cell to the leftPort of Long Beach · read 07/26/2026
Median first paid day	$27516 lines, $165–$370nine US import demurrage tariffs · read 07/28–08/01/2026	$28016 lines, $165–$370nine US import demurrage tariffs · read 07/28–08/01/2026
The port’s own tariff	found, not readTariff No. 4, at position 3 on the port’s only cost query	not checked yetnever located — a weaker cell than the one beside it

What an empty-looking cell means: found, not read — the document exists and is identified, but we have not opened it not checked yet — we have not read the document yet

One group of terminals is not split between the two ports here. TTI, SSA Terminal A, APM and WBT are named as one group across the bay in the tariff that prices them, and we did not separate them between the ports from any source. On this page that unsplit state argues for the conclusion rather than against it, so it is marked rather than quietly resolved.

The variable that decides Los Angeles against Long Beach is the terminal, and it crosses the port line

Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach are priced by the same documents, and the documents mostly do not distinguish them. Six of the ten tariff lines covering the bay price both ports identically — which is the arithmetic reason the medians land two dollars apart.

Every tariff line covering San Pedro Bay, and which port each one names.
Carrier	The group the tariff names	First paid day	Los Angeles	Long Beach	What that means
Maersk	standard ports	$300	●	●	prices both ports identically
CMA CGM	California	$275	●	●	prices both ports identically
Hapag-Lloyd	California base	$270	●	●	prices both ports identically
HMM	LA/LB except TTI, SSA Terminal A, APM, WBT	$270	●	●	prices both ports identically
ZIM	standard ports	$250	●	●	prices both ports identically
HMM	TTI · SSA Terminal A · APM · WBT	$210	●	●	prices both ports identically
ONE	LAX terminals	$285	●	—	names Los Angeles only
Yang Ming	Los Angeles	$270	●	—	names Los Angeles only
ONE	ITS Long Beach	$315	—	●	names a Long Beach terminal only
Hapag-Lloyd	Long Beach ITS/STEVED	$330	—	●	names a Long Beach terminal only
Six lines mark both columns. The pair separates on four lines only — two that name Los Angeles and two that name Long Beach terminals.

nine US import demurrage tariffs · read 07/28–08/01/2026

Two carriers price the difference inside their own documents, which removes the carrier as a variable. Hapag-Lloyd prices its Long Beach ITS/STEVED line at $330 against its own California base line at $270 — a $60 gap inside one tariff. ONE prices its ITS Long Beach line at $315 against its own LAX terminals line at $285 — $30 inside one tariff. It is not that Long Beach is dearer; it is that ITS is dearer, and both carriers say so in their own documents.

The third proof runs the other way and is stronger for it: HMM’s cheaper group — $210 against $270 — covers TTI, SSA Terminal A, APM and WBT, and that group spans both ports. A discount that does not respect the port boundary is evidence that the boundary is not the variable. How every figure here is sourced: how every figure here is sourced.

The cost stack at Los Angeles and Long Beach, side by side

Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach carry the same five-line stack, and only one of those lines has been read at either port.

The cost stack at both ports, line by line.
Line of the stack	Los Angeles	Long Beach
Carrier demurrage, first paid day	$275 median · $165–$370nine US import demurrage tariffs · read 07/28–08/01/2026	$280 median · $165–$370nine US import demurrage tariffs · read 07/28–08/01/2026
Terminal storage	not checked yetgap A	not checked yetgap A
Terminal handling	not checked yet	not checked yet
Drayage	not publishedvendors quote $400–$900 with no sample — gap F	not publishedthe same vendor range covers the bay — gap F
Local fees	Clean Truck Fund $10 per TEU · $20 over 20 ftPort of Los Angeles · read 07/26/2026	found, not reada reported traffic fee increase of 4.77%, unconfirmed against the port

What an empty-looking cell means: not checked yet — we have not read the document yet not published — the source publishes no figure here found, not read — the document exists and is identified, but we have not opened it

This is the one page on this site where closing a gap could overturn the conclusion rather than extend it. One cost line of five is read. Terminal storage tariffs are unread at both ports — gap A — and the port authorities’ own rules are unread at both as well — gap B. If the terminal tariffs run the other way, the verdict below inverts. That caveat is here and repeated in the next block, and it is not in a footer.

An invoice for these days answers to 46 CFR Part 541, in force since 05/28/2024 and before the D.C. Circuit twice since — the decision of 09/29/2025 changed who may be billed. Read the current text rather than a summary of the 2024 announcement, and test the document before paying it: the federal rules your invoice has to meet. The same stack ranked across every US port: the cost stack ranked port by port.

Medians rounded to the dollar; no port in the current reading falls on a half-dollar.

Free time at both ports runs on the same carrier clock, and only the disclosure differs

Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach run on the same clock, and not by coincidence: the rule belongs to the carrier’s tariff, and Maersk sets the count for both ports in a single line — the first 3:00 AM after discharge. Free time does not differ between these two ports at all.

What differs is how much each port publishes about itself, and both cells below describe our reading rather than the ports.

Who sets the clock here, and what each authority publishes about it.
	Port of Los Angeles	Port of Long Beach
Who sets free time	the carrier’s tariff	the carrier’s tariff
The hour the count starts	first 3:00 AM after dischargeMaersk USA Imports · read 07/26/2026	first 3:00 AM after discharge — the same line of the same documentMaersk USA Imports · read 07/26/2026
The port authority’s own rule	found, not readTariff No. 4 — gap B	not checked yetnever located — gap B

What an empty-looking cell means: found, not read — the document exists and is identified, but we have not opened it not checked yet — we have not read the document yet

How many free days each carrier gives before any of this starts: how many free days each port allows.

When Los Angeles is cheaper, and why Long Beach never is on the line we read

Two scenarios decide this pair, and both carry a number rather than a preference.

Los Angeles wins against ITS, and only there

If your service calls at ITS in Long Beach and you ship with Hapag-Lloyd or ONE, the Los Angeles side of the same carrier’s tariff is $60 or $30 per container per day cheaper on the first paid day. Over a week that is real money, and it is a terminal difference wearing a port’s name.

Hapag-Lloyd and ONE tariffs · read 07/28–07/29/2026

With four of the nine carriers the port choice moves this line by nothing

Maersk, CMA CGM, ZIM and HMM price both ports identically. If you book with any of them, the first paid day is the same number on either side of the bay, and the decision belongs to the road and the rail rather than to the berth.

the same nine tariffs · read 07/28–07/29/2026

And Long Beach never wins on this line

Among the all-in lines we read, none prices Long Beach below Los Angeles. Both of the dearest first-paid-day lines in the entire nine-tariff set are Long Beach terminals, at $330 and $315. That is a statement about one cost line of five — see the caveat above.

scoped to the first paid day of carrier demurrage

The scope, stated twice on purpose. Everything above rests on one of the five lines a port choice moves. Terminal storage is unread at both ports, and if it runs the other way this verdict inverts. A comparison that hid that in a footnote would be worth less than no comparison.

The coast as a whole, on what can actually be compared: the West Coast ports compared. How long boxes sit in this bay, and which dwell that means: how long a box sits, and which dwell is meant.

What the Los Angeles and Long Beach difference is not

Three quarters of what this query returns is about something else, and six separations are worth making before a reader spends another screen here.

Not the cruise terminals. Both cities have one and neither appears in a container tariff. Every figure on this page comes from import demurrage documents.
Not San Pedro. The Port of San Pedro is not a separate port from the Port of Los Angeles; San Pedro is the neighbourhood the port sits in.
Not Port Angeles. That is a different port, in Washington State, and it arrives on this query purely through the name.
Not a distance question. We publish no distance between the two ports, because we hold no coordinates from a source and a distance recalled from memory is exactly the genre this site is an alternative to — gap K.
Not the civic history. Why two adjacent harbours are governed by two separate city departments is discussed widely and we read no primary source for it, so the operational consequence is published instead of the story.
Not “the largest port complex”. That phrase means San Pedro Bay — both ports together — which makes it the one superlative that cannot be used to compare them with each other.

Every US container port we cover, with what has been read about each: every US container port we cover.

Questions about Los Angeles against Long Beach

What is the difference between Long Beach and Los Angeles?

As ports: two cities, two harbour authorities and two sets of tariff lines. In money on the line we read, six of the ten lines do not distinguish them at all, and the medians land two dollars apart.

Are LA port and Long Beach port the same?

No, they are two ports in one bay. But HMM gives the same discounted rate at terminals on both sides of the boundary, which means the terminal matters more to your invoice than the port name does.

What are the key differences between the Los Angeles port and Long Beach port?

Medians of $275 and $280, ceilings of $370 at both, and fourteen lines at each. The ceiling is where the two separate, and it separates by terminal.

Which is cheaper, Los Angeles or Long Beach?

On the first paid day of carrier demurrage, Long Beach is never cheaper and Los Angeles is cheaper only against ITS — by $60 with Hapag-Lloyd and $30 with ONE. That is one cost line of five, and the other four are not read.

Is Los Angeles cruise port the same as Long Beach?

A cruise question, and this page does not answer it. Everything here comes from container tariffs, and a cruise terminal is a different facility with a different document behind it.

Is Port of San Pedro the same as Port of Los Angeles?

San Pedro is not a third port. No separate set of tariff lines appears under that name in any of the nine tariffs we read, which is the only test this page can apply to the question.

Why are the ports of LA and Long Beach separate?

The civic history is discussed widely and we have not read a source for it, so we do not retell it. The consequence we did read is two separate sets of tariff lines, six of which price both ports identically anyway.

How far is the Port of Los Angeles from Long Beach?

No distance is published here: coordinates from a source are not read. It would not be the deciding number in any case, because the rate follows the terminal rather than the mileage.