Port of L.A. Tops Rival.

For the second time in as many months, the Port of Los Angeles handled more cargo containers in February than the neighboring Port of Long Beach, challenging the latter facility's title as the nation's busiest commercial harbor.

The L.A. port beat rival Long Beach in only a single category: the number of empty inbound and outbound 20-foot cargo containers handled. It was enough, though, to give the Los Angeles port a roughly 1,700-container edge over its rival, with a total of nearly 337,000 containers compared with just over 335,000 for Long Beach.

Still, Long Beach handled higher volumes of imports and exports: 177,362 and 81,893 containers, respectively -- roughly 6 percent and 7 percent more than Los Angeles handled. Both ports took in record cargo for a February.