Metro record
Lumper services in Los Angeles
The San Pedro Bay port complex, the Alameda Corridor and the warehouse belt from Vernon to Carson keep lumping companies working around the clock in Los Angeles.
46 lumping companies on the record
Lumping companies serving Los Angeles, CA
Inland Empire · Los Angeles · CA
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Inland Empire · Los Angeles · CA
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Inland Empire · Northern New Jersey · CA · +1
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Dock labor in Los Angeles, CA
- Agencies on the record
- 46
- Dispatching to the metro directly
- 7
- Covering the whole state
- 19
- Nationwide operators
- 20
- Places inside the market
- 10
Los Angeles is the front door for containerized imports into the United States. Boxes leave the terminals at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach two ways: by truck up I-710 to transload yards in Carson, Compton and Rancho Dominguez, or by rail on the Alameda Corridor to BNSF's Hobart yard in Commerce and to Union Pacific's Intermodal Container Transfer Facility in Carson and East Los Angeles yard. From there I-5, I-605, SR-91 and I-10 feed the warehouse spine through Vernon, Commerce, Santa Fe Springs, La Mirada and City of Industry.
Transloading is what sets dock labor here apart from other markets. Ocean containers arrive floor-loaded and hand-stacked, and lumper crews strip them into 53-foot domestic trailers or onto pallets before the freight ever reaches a distribution center. That work climbs from midsummer through October as retailers build holiday inventory, and again in the weeks before Lunar New Year factory closures in Asia. Vernon and Commerce supply a steadier draw: food plants, refrigerated warehouses and the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market downtown, which runs on overnight receiving and takes in Oxnard district strawberries and Imperial and Coachella Valley winter vegetables.
Third-party unloading also follows the shippers and 3PLs that anchor the basin, among them Maersk's Performance Team operation headquartered in Santa Fe Springs, plus the air cargo recovery and cross-dock houses clustered near LAX in El Segundo and Inglewood. Most of this freight moves across more than one shift a day.
Last reviewed September 2026
Los Angeles, CA on the record
The Alameda Corridor is a 20-mile grade-separated freight rail expressway connecting the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to the downtown Los Angeles rail yards, which is why so much container work concentrates in Commerce and Vernon rather than at the docks.
Source: Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority
BNSF's Hobart Yard in Commerce is the railroad's flagship Southern California intermodal facility and sits at the inland end of the Alameda Corridor.
Source: BNSF intermodal facilities directory
Union Pacific operates the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility in Carson, a few miles from the port complex, along with its East Los Angeles and LATC yards.
Source: Union Pacific intermodal terminal list
I-710, the Long Beach Freeway, is the primary drayage corridor between the San Pedro Bay marine terminals and the Commerce and Vernon rail and warehouse cluster.
Source: Caltrans I-710 corridor program
The Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market operates in the downtown produce district on an overnight and early morning receiving cycle, so perishable trailer unloading here happens on a night schedule.
Source: Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market
Ventura County's Oxnard district ships strawberries in volume from late winter through spring, moving cold chain freight into Los Angeles County cold storage and repack houses.
Source: USDA AMS shipping point data
Marine terminal work at the San Pedro Bay ports falls under the coastwise longshore contract, while unloading inside inland warehouses and transload yards sits outside that agreement.
Source: Pacific Maritime Association coastwise longshore contract
Maersk's Performance Team is headquartered in Santa Fe Springs and runs warehousing and transload operations in the Los Angeles basin.
Source: Maersk / Performance Team
Los Angeles International Airport is one of the largest air cargo gateways in the country, with its freight facilities and surrounding cross-dock houses concentrated on the airport's south side.
Source: Los Angeles World Airports air cargo statistics
Inside the Los Angeles, CA market
By service
- Trailer & Container Unloading (Devanning) in Los Angeles, CA
- Outbound Loading in Los Angeles, CA
- Sorting & Segregation in Los Angeles, CA
- Palletizing, Restacking & Wrapping in Los Angeles, CA
- Railcar Unloading in Los Angeles, CA
- Refrigerated / Freezer Dock Work in Los Angeles, CA
- Transloading & Cross-Docking in Los Angeles, CA
- Rework (Repackaging, Relabeling, Kitting) in Los Angeles, CA
- Returns & Salvage Processing in Los Angeles, CA
- General Warehouse Labor in Los Angeles, CA
- Load Inspection & Damage Documentation in Los Angeles, CA
- Yard Management & Trailer Spotting in Los Angeles, CA
- Inventory Counting & Cycle Counts in Los Angeles, CA
- Order Selection & Pick / Pack in Los Angeles, CA
By crew model
Reading for Los Angeles, CA operators
- Hiring lumpers for the fourth quarter: where agencies find crews and how they keep them
Fourth quarter hiring is a race against every warehouse, parcel hub, and retailer in your metro. What works is not a better ad. It is a shorter path from application to first shift, and a reason to come back Tuesday.
6 min read - How a lumping agency writes a quote a facility can say yes to
Most lost quotes are not lost on price. They are lost because the receiving manager could not tell what the number covered, could not defend it internally, or could not compare it to the quote sitting next to it.
6 min read - How to vet an unloading crew before they touch your freight
Nine checks to run on a lumping agency before the first trailer: insurance from the insurer, who employs the crew, equipment training, services, Engagement Model, Service Area, staffing depth, pricing, and claims.
5 min read
Questions about dock labor in Los Angeles, CA
Do longshore rules at the ports apply to warehouse lumpers in Los Angeles?
No. Container handling on the marine terminals at Los Angeles and Long Beach is covered by the coastwise longshore contract administered by the Pacific Maritime Association. Once a box leaves the gate for a transload yard in Carson or a warehouse in Vernon, the unloading is ordinary warehouse work and is typically staffed by third-party crews hired by the facility or the receiver.
What makes port transload work different from ordinary trailer unloading?
Import containers are usually floor-loaded and hand-stacked overseas to maximize cube, so there is nothing to move with a forklift. Freight unloaders break the load down by hand, sort by SKU or destination, and restack it onto pallets or into 53-foot domestic trailers. Crews are sized by container count per shift rather than by dock door, and yards near I-710 often run two or three shifts during import peak.
When is demand for lumper services in Los Angeles heaviest?
Two peaks. Import volume builds from midsummer through October as retailers stage holiday inventory, and there is a second surge in the weeks before Lunar New Year, when Asian factories ship ahead of their closures and the market goes quiet afterward. Produce work runs on its own clock: Oxnard district strawberries in late winter and spring, and Imperial and Coachella Valley vegetables through the winter, both handled on overnight receiving.