Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach

I've posted in the "questions from new drivers" forum. I'm hoping to gain more insight here, looking for information specific to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. I will be a new graduate (school has emphasis on port training) with doubles/triples, tanker, and hazmat endorsements. I will also have my TWIC card, but no previous experience. I get that my biggest setback will be my experience, so a main concern for me is to just get my foot in the door. However, I am still curious to know what range of pay should I expect to get. I've heard everything from $12 to $20 an hour. $12 seems low, but what do I know. There's also pay per load/trip, per mile, something about a per diem. Is there a preferred type of pay among port drivers? Hourly if you're slow or just learning and perhaps per trip when you're experienced and able to make more loads? Are there any companies that you guys may know that will hire new graduates with no previous experience to work these ports? Thanks

 

Does it pay more? I can learn.

 

Thanks for the heads up about the different forms of communication and languages that I may encounter, yet I'm more worried about finding a company willing to hire new graduates. Is getting a container gig difficult for new graduates? (LA/Long Beach)

Cool, now is a per diem amount better than paid wait time after the 2nd hour? Maybe, I could also circumvent some of that wait time if I were to find a company with their own chassis?

 

I've heard that sometimes what you have to choose from the chassis pools is pretty bad and looking for a half decent one takes up a lot of time. I figured offsite companies may have better setups, but that's just a guess.