Slangerup is expected to be voted in at a meeting of the Long Beach board of Harbor Commissioners on Monday.

THE Port of Long Beach will name Jon W Slangerup, former head of FedEx Canada, as new chief executive, filling a post that was vacated last year when J Christopher Lytle exited to take the top job at neighbouring Port of Oakland.

Mr Slangerup is expected to be voted in at a meeting of the Long Beach board of Harbor Commissioners on Monday, June 30.

“We’re confident that Jon can move us ahead as the Best Green Seaport in the world while providing experienced leadership in developing advanced cargo-handling technology and infrastructure,” said Harbor Commission president Doug Drummond.

Mr Slangerup worked for FedEx Canada for 20 years, and served seven as its chief executive. He left in 2000 and served as chief executive of several clean-technology and energy companies, most recently serving as chief executive officer of ClearEdge Powe, a California fuel cell producer, from 2007.

The Port of Long Beach said in its release that pending expansion of the Panama Canal and the drop in port traffic generally since the global financial crisis has put pressure on ports to maintain their businesses. Environmental concerns have also grown.

That said, the Port of Long Beach is having a good year, recording its busiest May since 2007, handling 599,509 teu — up 2.7% on the same month in 2013.

For the first five months of year, Long Beach posted a rise in volumes of 1.3% to around 3.4m teu, slightly higher than neighbouring Port of Los Angeles’ volumes of 3.3m teu in the same period.