The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach announced separately today plans to offer cargo processing discounts and other incentives to help fight the effects of the shipping downturn.

The Los Angeles Harbor Commission on Thursday approved a discount program that offers terminal operators a 10 percent reduction in port charges for every so-called intermodal cargo container, which moves by rail to or from points outside of California.

The local port complex currently handles more than 70 percent of the container volume moving through West Coast ports. But as smaller, cheaper U.S. ports threaten to take business away, port officials said they have taken a number of steps to fight back.

“We’re cutting our rates and cutting our internal operating expenses to weather this recession, fight back on competitive forces and fight for those jobs that our intermodal business helps support,” said Los Angeles Harbor Commission President S. David Freeman in a statement. “With this board action, we are putting our money where our mouth is.”

The discount offer will last one year and is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2009, said port spokesman Arley Baker.

Long Beach port officials said its harbor commission on Monday will consider a proposal that matches the Los Angeles plan for terminal operators, but goes a step further by offering incentives for shipping lines that increase their volume at the port.

Long Beach’s 10 percent reduction in port charges for terminal operators is expected to amount to between $4 and $6 per 20-foot cargo container, said port spokesman Art Wong. The port also will offer shipping lines $20 to $40 per container for increasing their non-local container volume beyond what they moved through the port last year.