MOJAVE, Calif. (August 9, 2022) — Today, the Kern County Board of Supervisors took the decisive action of issuing a proclamation to support the approved site plans for the Mojave Inland Port. The first-of-its-kind facility will significantly reduce supply chain pressure at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and provide an annual economic benefit of half a billion dollars, locally and statewide. The Mojave Inland Port will be situated 90 miles from the San Pedro Bay, allowing goods to arrive by rail from nearby ports more efficiently and to be redirected to their final destinations more quickly.

“The Mojave Inland Port is a fully permitted industrial site that will provide a solution for California goods movement at the ports,” said Lorelei Oviatt, Kern County Director of Planning. “From providing the green energy California needs to the new world of CCS and Carbon Management industries, as well as providing the most environmentally protective oil and gas permitting, Kern County is the place for the solutions California needs for economic growth.”

This project could not come at a better time, with annual container volume expected to increase from 20 million containers today to 34 million by 2030—even if Gulf and Atlantic ports upgrade. The Mojave Inland Port will be a critical relief valve, absorbing a significant portion of this increased traffic and processing it in a more efficient, environmentally friendly, and less disruptive way. This project has the added upside of enabling Kern County to stake out a position as a key shipping center capable of attracting large retail and distribution businesses to invest in the area surrounding the Mojave Inland Port, paving the way for sustained economic growth.

“The Port of Long Beach has seen record container traffic in recent years, which shows no sign of slowing down,” said Mario Cordero, Executive Director of the Port of Long Beach. “Being surrounded by the dense urban areas of Long Beach and South Los Angeles, there is limited real estate available. The Mojave Inland Port is the type of innovative solution that will alleviate congestion and allow dockworkers to do their jobs more efficiently, getting goods to businesses and consumers faster. It will also ensure the Port of Long Beach can adapt to growing demand and continue to be an engine of economic growth.”

“We want to thank the State, Kern County, the federal government, and all of our supporters and stakeholders for helping to make the dream of an inland port in Mojave a reality,” said Richard Kellogg, Chair of Pioneer Partners. “This one-of-a-kind project will help unsnarl the congestion in the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach; it will help the national economy by reducing pressure on the supply chain; it will help the local economy through job creation. Goods will get to businesses and consumers faster and more efficiently. We can’t wait to get started.”

Today’s proclamation adds further momentum to the inland port project. With site plans which are now zoned and approved, Pioneer Partners will work with Kern County officials to secure building permits as part of the next phase of the development process.

It is estimated that the Mojave Inland Port will have the capacity to handle approximately 3 million containers per year. Containers will be offloaded from ships onto shuttle trains for direct transport through the underutilized Alameda Corridor directly to Mojave, where they will be distributed. This will also result in an economic benefit of more than $100 million along the Alameda Corridor.

“Inland ports are a critical component to the future balance of our supply chain. They can provide flexibility and efficiency, all while relieving traffic congestion at critical choke points,” said Trelynd Bradley, Deputy Director of Sustainable Freight and Supply Chain Development at the California Governor’s Office of Business & Economic Development. “We appreciate the work that  Pioneer’s Mojave Inland Port proposal has done to help find new solutions to address our supply chain challenges. We look forward to working with them and others to ensure that people across the state and the nation have access to the goods they need.”

The new method of moving containers, used by other large ports such as Rotterdam, London, and Singapore, also has a significantly lower environmental impact than the current system, which involves multiple moves of each container by truck, many of which are forced to idle for hours while waiting to receive and offload containers. By shifting more of this traffic onto rail lines and reducing the amount of time trucks must wait at the port, California can process an increasing number of containers while producing less air pollution, a perennial concern in the Los Angeles basin.

Located on more than 400 acres immediately adjacent to the Mojave Air & Space Port, a fully operational airport open 24 hours a day, seven days a week with a 12,500-foot heavy lift runway, capable of accommodating the largest commercial cargo aircraft, the inland port will have ample space to process these containers. The site is served directly by rail and by two major highways, State Highways 14 and 58. It is the largest site in California operated by all three modes of transport— road, rail, and air —and is among the largest in the United States. Furthermore, once completed the Mojave Inland Port will also be one of the rare hubs in the entire world that can offer transportation options of rail, rubber-tire, air, and space.

The Mojave Inland Port will break ground in 2023 and will be fully operational in 2024. For more information visit www.mojaveinlandport.com