1990
Toyota nearly doubles its acreage to 144 acres in the north harbor.

1991
Hanjin Shipping Co. of South Korea opens a 57-acre container terminal on the site of the former Procter and Gamble plant on Pier C.

1992
Hanjin introduces post-Panamax vessels into its trans-Pacific fleet-the first vessels too large for the Panama Canal to call Long Beach. The vessels carry 4,000 TEUs (twenty-foot cargo container equivalent units).

Hyundai of South Korea introduces 4,400 TEUs vessels into its Pacific Southwest Service between Asia and Long Beach, thereby expanding the worldwide post-Panamax fleet.

1993
Maersk Line opens a 107-acre container terminal on the 147-acre Pier J expansion. The new terminal features a wharf with a flexible, multiple-direction piling concept that disperses stress and reduces damage in the event of an earthquake.

The remaining 40 acres of the 147-acre Pier J expansion are incorporated into Pacific Container Terminal.

1994
Metropolitan Stevedore Co. opens a $20 million, 175,000-ton coal storage shed to permit ships to be filled entirely from dockside storage.

The operating agreement for the Alameda Corridor, a 20-mile train and truck expressway from the ports to the transcontinental railyards in Los Angeles, is signed by the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and the Santa Fe, Southern Pacific and Union Pacific railroads.

Long Beach also finalizes the purchase in the North Harbor of 725 acres of land and water area from the Union Pacific Resources Co.

1995
Long Beach becomes the number-one container port in the United States after moving the equivalent of 2.6 million TEUs.

The port breaks ground on a new container terminal for Hanjin.
Sea-Land launches the first of its post-Panamax vessels that carry 4,000 containers per voyage.

Former First Lady Barbara Bush visits the port and christens the Orient Overseas Container Lines "America." The Hong Kong line's megaships carry 4,960 TEUs.

1996
For the second consecutive year, Long Beach is the nation's number-one container port handling 2.8 million TEUs.

Hyundai plies the Pacific with vessels that carry 5,551 TEUs.
Hanjin deploys 5,000 TEUs vessels into its Pacific Southwest Express fleet.

1997
COSCO joins other trans-Pacific carriers and launches vessels that carry 5,250 twenty-foot containers.

The port opens a 170-acre, $277 million container terminal for Hanjin. The terminal is Long Beach's largest, and it is the largest terminal operated anywhere in the world by Hanjin. The terminal features six gantry cranes, a 3,600-foot wharf, and the port's fifth dock-side rail facility.

Long Beach caps its fiscal year 1996-97 with a 12.6% increase in container volume handling the equivalent of 3.38 million containers.