Our Mission

The Marine Exchange is a private, not for profit service, that traces its history back to 1923. At that time San Pedro Bay was only an open roadstead with just a few privately owned piers and wharves and these were used by the few sailing vessels that had started serving the new and growing area of Southern California.

Lookouts and runners were regularly positioned at Signal Hill and Point Fermin, and they would be used to alert the local agents that their vessel was now in sight and arriving shortly. It was this practice that was considered the very beginning of the Marine Exchange as we know it. The method and the approach have become more sophisticated, but the essential function remains the same, in essence moving from semaphore into cyberspace.

Read the Full Mission Statement Document.