The Port of Los Angeles’ Trade Connect
program has earned the nation’s highest honor for promoting American export
trade, the President’s “E Star” Award for Export Service. The port was among
the 2013 honorees recognized for export sales or service during a May 20
ceremony at US Department of Commerce’s Washington, DC headquarters.
Trade Connect is an outreach program that
offers a series of workshops to small and midsize American companies to educate
them on the opportunities, costs and requirements of exporting their goods and
services.
Training ranges from introductory courses
on the basics of commercial transactions, foreign markets, financing,
documentation and logistics, to advanced seminars on international demand for
specific products and emerging global consumer markets.
The Port LA launched Trade Connect in 2007
in response to the imbalance between US spending on foreign goods and sales of
US products to international markets. This imbalance is reflected in ships
leaving the port with load factors generally lower than 50 percent.
Since its inception, Trade Connect has held
more than 150 workshops and events attended by more than 15,000 people,
according to the POLA. The program also has participated in trade shows in Hong
Kong and Japan and has drawn nearly 5,000 people to exhibits showcasing
California companies and their products.
“It is organizations like the Port of Los
Angeles that are strengthening the economies of local communities, creating
jobs and contributing to the worldwide demand for ‘Made in the USA’ goods and
services,” US Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank, who presented the
award, said.
Port Deputy Executive Director of
Development Mike Christensen and Director of Trade Development Jim MacLellan,
who started and manages the Trade Connect program, accepted the award in Washington,
DC on the port’s behalf.
US companies are nominated for the “E”
Award through the Department of Commerce’s US and Foreign Commercial Service
office network, located within the Department’s International Trade
Administration, which helps US exporters. Qualifications for the award include
four years of successive export growth and case studies which demonstrate
valuable support to exporters resulting in increased exports for the company’s
clients.
Monday’s ceremony marked the second time
the Port of Los Angeles has received the “E Star” Award for excellence in
promoting export trade. President Ronald Reagan awarded the honor to the port
in 1983.
