Following this, COSCO, a Chinese international shipping carrier, secured business with the Port of Long Beach in 1997.

Intermodal freight transport ship-to-rail transfer of containerized cargos at the Port of Long Beach

From the late 1990s through 2011, the Port of Long Beach saw increased traffic and growth with the leasing of terminals. In 1997, approximately one million containers were inbound to the port. By 2005, this number had tripled to nearly 3.3 million containers. If outbound containers are included, then the number increased from 3 million containers in 1997 to nearly 6.7 million containers in 2005.[16]

In 2001 U.S. Navy closed its footprint at Port of Long Beach, the Navy transfers it last lot of land on Terminal Island to the Port of Long Beach. The shipyard was closed in 1997.[17