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On Friday, the Port of Long Beach, Calif., announced it will receive a $17 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery III, or TIGER III, grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help fund a rail improvement project.

Slated to begin next year, the Green Port Gateway project calls for building 16,400 feet of track to realign tracks and relieve a rail chokepoint at the Ocean Boulevard overcrossing near the 710 Freeway. The $66 million project is expected to eliminate nearly 2.3 million truck trips from local roadways by 2035.

The work is part of the larger San Pedro Bay Ports Rail Enhancement Program, which involves several inter-related projects proposed by the Long Beach port, Port of Los Angeles and Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority.

The Port of Long Beach also announced that container volume dropped 17.6 percent in November to 459,881 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) — the fifth straight monthly decline. Imports fell 15.6 percent to 231,749 TEUs, exports plunged 22.2 percent to 111,011 TEUs and empties declined 17.1 percent to 117,121 TEUs compared with November 2010 data.

“The numbers reflect caution by retailers despite improving consumer confidence and a better-than-expected holiday shopping season this year,” port officials said in a prepared statement. “After experiencing record gains in 2010, year-to-date numbers are down for 2011. Imports are down 3.3 percent and exports are down 3.1 percent compared to the first 11 months of 2010.”

At the Port of Los Angeles, November volume rose 4 percent year over year to 694,109 TEUs. Exports climbed 15 percent to 195,878 TEUs, imports increased 6.2 percent to 354,313 TEUs and total loaded container volume rose 9.2 percent to 550,191 TEUs. Total empties dropped 11.7 percent to 143,918 TEUs.

Through 2011’s first 11 months, the port’s volume inched up about 1 percent to 7.3 million TEUs compared with the same 2010 period.