Port of Seattle grows with new services, bigger ships

New vessel services, bigger ships and new marine terminals are helping the Port of Seattle steam toward another record year for cargo volumes. Through May the number of cargo containers moving through the Port was up 27 percent over the same period in 2004. A record 1.78 million containers passed through the Port last year.

Three of the ocean carriers calling the Port of Seattle recently announced new services linking the Port to Asia.

In late July Seoul-based Hanjin Shipping will add a new vessel service to Seattle that will bring a second weekly call to Elliott Bay. The new service will utilize five ships capable of carrying 5,000 to 7,500 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units.), the largest ships regularly calling on Seattle.

"This kind of growth is one of the reasons we worked so hard to sign Hanjin and Total Terminals International to a long-term lease at Terminal 46," said Port of Seattle Commissioner Pat Davis. Davis traveled to Seoul in 2003 and helped persuade Hanjin executives to extend their lease in Seattle. The extension, signed in January, will keep Hanjin in Seattle's harbor at least through 2015 and perhaps as long as 2025. "The growth in container volume we've seen at the major cargo terminals in our harbor is evidence that the investments we've made are paying off by generating jobs, business revenue and tax revenue," Davis said.

The Grand Alliance, a consortium of ocean carriers that calls at the Port's Terminal 18, will start a new service in mid-July with Seattle and Vancouver, BC, in that order, as the only West Coast ports of call. As the first in-bound port, Seattle will receive most of the imports the ships deliver.

Finally, APL, which calls at Terminal 5, will run a special peak season service that stops in Seattle from July through December.

On the land side, the Port will open an upgraded Terminal 25 in mid-July. The 32-acre facility will be leased and operated by Seattle-based SSA for Matson Line, a domestic carrier that serves Hawaii and Guam.

The Port is investing about $20 million to improve the pier, container yard, utilities, truck gates and buildings. SSA will provide its own cranes.

Matson and SSA operated at Terminal 25 from the late 1980s through 2002 when they consolidated activity at the newly expanded Terminal 18. Cargo volume growth drove the decision to reactivate Terminal 25. The move will free up additional capacity at Terminal 18.

"Our ability to handle growing cargo volumes is a direct result of the decisions made by our Port Commission over the past decade," said Port of Seattle CEO M. R. Dinsmore. "We have the capacity to handle at least three million containers a year right now, and we're looking at ways to increase that figure. We'll continue to work with our customers, our community, and our labor partners ensure sustainable growth."