Union dockworkers are finding there isn’t enough work to go around. Big cargo ships are joining the ranks of the unemployed. And yet, the people who run the nation’s two largest container ports are convinced that now is the time to build for the future.

Still, after stalling for several years, some projects are reaching crucial stages, and Los Angeles and Long Beach port officials say it’s time to push them through.

The more than $2 billion in projects in their capital improvement plans, officials say, would amount to an important economic stimulus package that would employ thousands of regional workers. The projects, they contend, would reduce the pollution endured by neighbors by using newer, greener technologies.

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