[2] Development of an intermodal container handling system in 2002 after over a decade of planning and construction positions the Oakland Seaport for further expansion of the West Coast freight market share.

One of the main limitations to growth was the inability to transfer containers to rail lines; all cranes historically operated between ocean vessels and trucks.

[5] In 1987, on behalf of the Oakland Port Commission, Allen Broussard led a group of 72 lawyers, port officials, including then-port commissioner Carole Ward Allen, and city officials on a 3-week trip to China, meeting the Mayor of Shanghai, Jiang Zemin (Shanghai is twinned with San Francisco).

[8] Some 6 million cubic yards (4,600,000 m3) of mud from the dredging was deposited at the western edge of Middle Harbor Shoreline Park to become a 188-acre (76 ha) shallow-water wetlands habitat for marine and shore life.

[10][11] Prior to the March 2012 arrival of the MSC Fabiola, the largest container ship ever to enter the San Francisco Bay, the Port of Oakland prepared by checking channel depth and dredging as needed.

[13] In August 2014, the port was the scene of a protest against an Israeli-owned ship by Palestinian supporters opposed to Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip.

[15] The Port is part of California’s Green Trade Corridor Marine Highway project, as ships move cargo much greener than trucks and trains.

Green Trade Corridor Marine Highway (ports of Oakland-Stockton-West Sacramento) can improve goods movement through Northern California.

[1] In June 2016, The Oakland City Council voted unanimously to ban the handling and storage of both coal and coke at the port.

This decision came in opposition to developer Phil Tagami, CEO of the California Capital and Investment Group, financiers of the forthcoming Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal.