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In middle of trade war, America's largest port gets ready for robots

The Los Angeles terminal has already ordered an electric, automated carrier

Paradip is a bulk cargo port that mainly handles thermal coal used by power plants on the east coast      Photo: iStock
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Romy Varghese | Bloomberg
Pier 400 in Los Angeles is North America’s largest shipping terminal. More than 1,700 trucks pass through, on average per day, even in the middle of the U.S.-China trade war. All that cargo translates into thousands of miles driven within the facility each day, mostly by diesel vehicles, spewing pollutants.

For APM Terminals, the part of global shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S that runs the Los Angeles terminal, the future of cargo handling looks like the future of driving: electric motors replacing gasoline engines, autonomous software replacing human workers. The company says the changes are necessary to meet California rules requiring