- Lane
- Ports and the 710
- Freeways
- ZIP codes
- 90802
- 90805
- 90806
- 90810
- 90813
- 90815
- County
- Los Angeles County
Empty cable reels picked up in Long Beach
Yes, we pick up empty wooden cable reels in Long Beach, from the port-side industrial streets of West Long Beach to the yards along the 405 near the airport. Long Beach is on the ports run that works up and down the 710.
What gets made in Long Beach
Long Beach is a port city. The Port of Long Beach handled a record of about 9.9 million TEUs in 2025, and the streets that feed it, in West Long Beach and along the 710 north to the 405, are lined with container yards, chassis depots, warehouses and the electrical and marine contractors that keep the terminals running. Terminal automation, shore power for ships at berth and crane electrification all run on heavy cable delivered on large bolted reels.
Further north and east the city is different again: the industrial blocks around Long Beach Airport (the old Douglas plant area off Lakewood Boulevard), and the businesses along Cherry Avenue and Atlantic in North Long Beach. Reels here come from aviation and aerospace suppliers, building contractors and the city's own street-lighting and traffic-signal work.
Long Beach is also its own city with its own gas and water utilities, though Southern California Edison supplies its electricity, so distribution cable work on its streets is SCE's. The Port of Long Beach's terminals sit on reclaimed land and piers south of the city centre, reached by the 710 and Ocean Boulevard; the reels from terminal jobs usually end up at contractors' yards in West Long Beach or Carson rather than on the piers themselves.
Where Long Beach's empty reels come from
- Terminal and shore-power electrical work
- Medium-voltage cable on 72 to 96 inch bolted reels, often stencilled as returnable to the cable maker.
- Airport-area industry
- Aerospace suppliers and fabricators empty 36 to 48 inch reels of control and power cable.
- City and contractor yards
- Street lighting, signal and building contractors stack mixed nailed reels in their yards.
How the Ports and the 710 run reaches Long Beach
The ports run starts at the harbour and works north up the 710, so Long Beach stops are early in the day, when terminal traffic is lighter on the surface streets. West Long Beach (90810, 90813) stops pair with Carson and Wilmington; stops near the airport (90815, 90806) pair with the 405 and the South Bay. If a reel is stencilled with a maker's name, tell us: a returnable reel may be worth sending back to its owner instead.
Other stops on the Ports and the 710 lane: Wilmington, Carson, Rancho Dominguez. Reels from Long Beach can share a deck with any of them.
Getting Long Beach's reels ready for the truck
Count by flange
Measure across the round end of each reel and group them: 42, 48, 72, 96 inch flanges are the sizes we see most from Long Beach. A phone photo of the stack helps us size the run. The measuring guide shows where to put the tape.
Stage them where a flatbed fits
Put the reels where a 53 foot flatbed can pull alongside off Interstate 710, not down a lane it cannot turn in.
Give us a window
Tell us the hours your gate is open and staffed. Stops on the Ports and the 710 lane get a pickup window by email once the run is planned.
Say how they get lifted
A forklift on site loads anything up to 96 inches. Without one, reels up to about 42 inches can be tipped and rolled up a ramp; bigger ones need a lift.
Flag the stencilled ones
A reel painted with a cable maker's name may be returnable. Tell us and we will say whether it should go back to its owner before we take it.
After the run, sound reels from Long Beach are sorted for resale to contractors, makers and growers who want wooden spools; split flanges, torn arbor holes and rotten staves go to wood recycling. See resale or recycling for how a reel is graded.
Reel sizes that usually come out of Long Beach
| Flange | How it loads | Empties per 53 ft deck (est.) | Empty weight, lb |
|---|---|---|---|
| 42 in | Flat, stacked 2 high | 60 | 90 to 100 |
| 48 in | On edge, two rows | 26 to 30 | 106 to 177 |
| 72 in | On edge, two rows | 20 to 24 | 204 to 592 |
| 96 in | On edge, two rows | 16 to 18 | 250 to 1,199 |
Estimates from published reel and loading charts; method on reels per load.
Nearest areas to Long Beach on the grid
Straight-line miles between town centres, not road miles.
Other Los Angeles County areas, by grid square
- Vernon 90058D6
- Commerce 90040D6
- City of Industry 91744F6
- Santa Fe Springs 90670E7
- Carson 90745D7
- Rancho Dominguez 90220D7
- Compton 90220D7
- Wilmington 90744D8
- Torrance 90501C7
- El Segundo 90245C7
- Huntington Park 90255D6
- Northeast Los Angeles 90031D6
- Sun Valley 91352C5
- Pacoima 91331C4
- Chatsworth 91311B4
- Canoga Park 91303B5
- Van Nuys 91401B5
- Santa Clarita 91350B3
- Palmdale 93550E2
- Lancaster 93534E1
- Pomona 91766G6
Long Beach pickup questions
Do you pick up near Long Beach Airport?
Yes. The industrial blocks around the airport and Lakewood Boulevard are on the ports run when it heads up the 405, and the truck often passes there after West Long Beach.
Can you pick up inside a port terminal?
Only where the terminal lets a flatbed in with the right credentials. Most reels we collect in Long Beach are at contractors' yards and buildings outside the gates.
Do returnable reels from port jobs go back to the maker?
If they are stencilled and the maker runs a return program, we tell you first. Mixed, unmarked and part loads are what we take.