Free boat tours show off Port of LA, in honor of World Trade Week

Members of the pubic got a rare view from the water at the busiest container port in the Western Hemisphere. The Port of Los Angeles, in recognition of World Trade Week, hosted the free boat tours Saturday, May 9, that also included special pet-friendly tours.

According to the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce website, World Trade Week was created in 1926 and first observed in Southern California in 1927. Founded by Stanley T. Olafson, then manager of the World Trade Department of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the recognition occurred during a time of isolationism and under the conditions that were to prevail during the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.

By 1935, then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had officially proclaimed World Trade Week a national observance by the U.S. government. Initially created to promote the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, World Trade Week expanded its scope following World War II to include all facilities and organizations in the Southern California area involved in world trade.

Today, the observance is designed to promote positive aspects of international trade that relies on the guidance of its founding sponsors: The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, Los Angeles World Airports, the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles. The original weeklong observance has now grown to include more than 40 events held each May in Southern California.

Saturday’s boat tours launched from the docks at Banning’s Landing in Wilmington adjacent to that town’s new waterfront development that in February featured the groundbreaking for a key feature of the recreational area, a 380-foot-long pedestrian bridge tentatively set to open in a little more than two years.

The $152 million Avalon Pedestrian Bridge and Gateway Project will be a signature part of Wilmington’s new recreational waterfront, which now also includes a finished waterfront promenade. The 9-acre promenade area opened in February 2024, when scores of residents and visitors turned out to celebrate what had long been a community dream.