Breakbulk Breakthrough

Pacific Terminals partners with Eagle Marine and Westwood to bring Port Townsend Paper shipments to Seattle’s Harbor

Pat Cohn was on edge. It was the day before implementation of an innovative solution to a container shortage affecting harbors up and down the West Coast and the General Manager of Pacific Terminals was nervous about the double hand-off required to make the plan a success.

“This has never been done before,” Cohn said. “If it works, it could really open some doors for us.”

It involved a barge load of breakbulk pulp from the Port Townsend Paper Mill in Port Townsend, Washington making its way to Pacific Terminals’ 600-foot, three-berth pier. Once in Seattle 1600 units of the cargo would be discharged and driven a few hundred feet across a paved yard to the Port of Seattle’s Terminal 5. At T-5, the pulp would be handed off to longshore workers, loaded on platforms at the pier and lifted aboard the Westwood Rainier for shipment to Japan.

Typically, Cohn said, his company would receive the breakbulk pulp by barge and transload it into containers for overseas shipment. But the current surge of U.S. exports coupled with a reduction in imports has made it difficult and costly to find containers for some west bound cargoes.

“If we didn’t find a solution, this cargo was not coming to Seattle,” Cohn said. He approached Eagle Marine Services, which leases and operates Terminal 5, and Westwood Shipping, which offers service to Japan and Korea and has ships designed to carry containers and breakbulk pulp and paper.

The day after the complex operation, Cohn was enthusiastic about its success.

“We loaded 685 units on the day shift and 915 on the night shift,” he said. “The Seattle longshore workers were up to the task and they really performed.”

Cohn’s enthusiasm was shared by officials at the Port of Seattle.

“While the Port wasn’t directly involved in this project, it’s a great example of the kind of partnerships and innovation that make our harbor a critical gateway for trade and a vital asset to the regional economy,” said Charlie Sheldon, Managing Director of the Port’s Seaport Division. “I congratulate Pacific Terminals, Eagle Marine, Westwood and Seattle’s longshore labor force for making this effort a success.”

Pulp and Paper Veterans

While the breakbulk pulp operation is unusual in this day of increasing containerization, handling forest products is nothing new to Pacific Terminals. The company was founded in 1982 as the transportation arm of paper giant Crown Zellerbach. Pacific Terminals became a separate company in 1995 and moved to its current location on West Marginal Way in 1997. The firm has 30 employees – some who’ve been there for 20 years.

With its pier and 157,000-square-foot, rail-served, dockside warehouse, Pacific Terminals receives barges and transloads cargo to containers, trains and trucks (the facility has 12 truck doors/ramps). Another 43,000 square feet of space is available on East Marginal Way near the Union Pacific’s ARGO Yard. Pacific Terminals was acquired by Puget Sound Freight Lines in 2002. It leases a barge from its parent company but hires out for towing service.

Other export cargoes the facility handles include paper liner board railed in from Oregon and news print that arrives via barge from Canada. Directory stock (giant rolls of paper for phone books) arrives by barge from Port Angeles, Washington. The paper products are exported to Australia, China, the Philippines and other destinations.

“We also handle some toys and apparel imported from China and some mining supplies exported to Russia,” Cohn said.

Pacific Terminals loaded nearly 10,000 TEUs of cargo to Port of Seattle terminals in 2007, Cohn said.

“A diverse and successful harbor like ours relies on public and private terminals to generate business,” the Port’s Sheldon said. “It’s great to have a partner like Pacific Terminals on our side.”