Gateway at a Glance

Pacific Northwest

Puget Sound

The Puget Sound region is a major North American gateway for trade with Pacific Rim countries. The area is blessed with an abundance of natural deep-water harbors.

From the Pacific Ocean, the Strait of Juan de Fuca extends southwestward approximately 80 nautical miles between Vancouver Island, Canada and Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula. At the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound, a collection of narrow fjord like passages and steep hilled islands, reaches southward 70 nautical miles to the city of Olympia, Wash.

FAST Corridor

Freight Action STrategy for the Everett-Seattle-Tacoma Corridor, otherwise known as the FAST Corridor, is a partnership between 26 local cities, counties, ports, federal, state, and regional transportation agencies, railroads, and trucking interests, intent on using a cooperative approach to solving freight mobility problems in the Puget Sound region.

Partners share information and funding resources to benefit the region as a whole. Since 1998, the partners have assembled $568 million of public and private funding to complete nine strategic infrastructure improvement projects, and they have begun four more. A majority of the projects have focused on grade separations at rail crossings.

Port of Everett

The Port of Everett is located 25 miles north of Seattle on the Puget Sound. The port operates eight berths situated on approximately 100 acres of land and is served by the BNSF Railroad.

In the past five years, the Port of Everett has transformed itself. Once primarily a log port, today the port handles a wide variety of cargoes, including 100% of The Boeing Company’s 747, 767, and 777 aerospace parts, as well as heavy machinery, construction equipment, and project cargo destined for mining operations in northeastern Russia.

Port of Portland

The Port of Portland is the largest port on the lower Columbia River. The port manages 4,400 acres on six large industrial sites, and is developing the Troutdale Reynolds Industrial Park. FedEx Ground, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., was the first to locate a facility on the new site. FedEx Ground’s $100 million regional distribution hub is quickly taking shape.

Several significant road and rail projects, made possible by a mix of funding from the port, state agencies, and private companies, including infrastructure grant and loan money, will be underway soon to improve flow and efficiency in the Rivergate Industrial District. Projects include road widening and grade separations as well as rail track lengthening and yard expansion. Approximately $40 million will be spent between summer 2009 and the end of 2011.

Port of Longview

The Port of Longview has eight marine terminals and waterfront industrial property located on the deep-draft Columbia River, 66 miles from the Pacific Ocean.

Cargo handling specialties include all types of bulk cargos and breakbulk commodities such as steel, lumber, logs, pulp, paper, project and heavy-lift cargo. The port has recently become a leader in wind energy cargo handling, and recently added wind energy cargo exporting services.

In 2008, when other ports were struggling, operating revenue at the Port of Longview reached an all-time best. Port officials attribute much of the increase to continued wind energy cargo handling.

Port of Vancouver

The Port of Vancouver, Wash., deals primarily in bulk, break bulk, and liquid bulk cargos, however, it is also the west coast point of entry for Subaru motors. In 2008, Subaru shipped 60,000 vehicles through the port. Grain exports topped four million metric tons in 2008.
The port has become one of the nation’s leading importers of wind energy cargo. In order to keep pace with growing volumes, the port received a second Liebherr LHM 500 mobile harbor crane in March 2009. The cranes are the largest in North America; each one is capable of lifting 140 metric tons — the equivalent of two space shuttles.

Port of Seattle

The Port of Seattle is one of North America’s largest, most diverse seaports. The port’s primary business is containerized cargo. In recent years, the Alaska cruise business has grown tremendously. The port is also home to a majority of the Alaska fishing fleet and is a major export gateway for grain.

Ten years ago, the Port of Seattle hosted six cruise ships, last year, 210 cruise ships called at the port. Recently, Carnival announced it would relocate its operations from Vancouver, Canada to Seattle beginning in 2010.

In 2007, the port broke ground on a new cruise facility at Terminal 91, recently named Smith Cove Terminal. The project will be completed in April 2009, with the first ships calling soon thereafter. The new, two-story 144,000 square foot terminal building will be the embarkation point for hundreds of thousands of Alaska bound cruise passengers each year. The new terminal has two berths; both of which have been equipped with shore power.

Terminal 30 the former cruise terminal was converted back into a container facility as part of the same project. China Shipping is expected to begin operations at the redone 70-acre terminal in May 2009.

BNSF Railway recently added capacity to its Seattle International Gateway (SIG) intermodal facility through the acquisition of four wide-span, electric, rail-mounted gantry cranes.

Port of Grays Harbor

The Port of Grays Harbor is in Aberdeen and is Washington’s only deep-water port on the Pacific. It is centrally located about 50 miles west of Olympia between Seattle and Portland.

Many of its sites have rail, road, marine and/or telecommunications access. There are several truck lanes and the average turn around time is only 20 minutes.

The port has four terminals. Terminal 4 is 1,400 feet long and water depth is -41 MLLW. Terminal 4 also handles various project/heavy lift cargoes and Ro-Ro vessels.

AGP shipped its 2 millionth ton of high-grade agricultural product through Terminal 2. Their first shipment of whole beans was shipped in 2008 and in 2009 the first shipment of corn kernels. They (AGP) have taken an option for additional land for future growth at the terminal.

Columbia-Snake River Basin

Ports along the lower Columbia River move upwards of 30 million tons annually. The Columbia River is the nation’s number one export gateway for wheat and barley, and the U.S. west coast’s number one dry bulk export gateway. Imported autos and containers arriving at Columbia River ports are delivered across 43 states.

More than 20 years ago, the Columbia River Channel Deepening Project was conceived. The project aims to bring the 103-mile shipping channel that runs between Vancouver-Portland and the Pacific Ocean from a depth of 40 to 43 feet. When complete, the deeper channel will enable larger vessels to safely transit the waterway.

As of January, the channel deepening effort was 85% complete, and with $34.4 million in funding recently approved by Congress, the project should be nearly finished by spring 2010.

Port of Tacoma

The Port of Tacoma is a major gateway to both Asia and Alaska. The port manages 2,400 acres on Commencement Bay — a natural deep-water harbor in Southern Puget Sound. Containers are the port’s largest business line, but bulk, breakbulk, project and heavy-lift cargoes, and automobile imports round out the port’s portfolio.

Tacoma boasts outstanding intermodal operations, with on dock rail at all of its container terminals and excellent access to I-5 and I-90. More than 70 percent of the Port’s international import container cargo heads east, via rail.

In summer 2007, the port announced a plan to build a new 168-acre container terminal for long-term tenant NYK Line. In addition to terminal construction and reconfiguration, the Blair water way will be dredged and widened to accommodate larger vessels. The initial project estimate was one billion dollars. The new terminal is scheduled to be operational by June 2012.

In This Issue

News, Trends & Analysis
New Items

Glimmer of Recovery

Supply Chain
A Quick Primer on Site Selection

Managing with the Supply Chain in Mind

Compliance Corner: Trade Compliance Requires a Focus on Information Gathering

How to Green Up Your Logistics Operation

Supply Chain product review
Trucking Software

Special Section
Creating the Extraordinary — the Prince Rupert Story

Features
Building a Future from Drayage Wreckage

Gateway at a Glance Pacific Northwest

Ports & infrastructure
Stimulus Bill Has Cash for Ports . . . for the Right Projects

What Shippers Need from Inland Ports

Port Product Review
Lift Trucks

Commentary
New Trends Driving Transpacific Trade

Who, What, Where, When

Final Say