Regular auto and breakbulk cargo service at Terminal 46 in the Seattle harbor officially began March 27 with the arrival of the vehicle carrier Triumph Ace. For the Northwest Seaport Alliance, Terminal 46 is a key location for cargo, offering more than 42 acres of laydown space in the Seattle harbor for cargo shippers. Terminal operator Pacific Terminal Services Co. and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 19 are the processors of cargo at the terminal. Port of Seattle Commission President and NWSA Co-Chair Hamdi Mohamed said the alliance is excited to open Terminal 46 for regular service. We appreciate our partners at PTSC and the ILWU Local 19 for supporting shippers in moving automobiles, construction machinery and other heavy-haul equipment across the Pacific Northwest,” Mohamed said. Port of Tacoma…
The Northwest Seaport Alliance, which is the maritime operating alliance between the Seattle and Tacoma ports, ended 2021 with record volumes for breakbulk cargo through its gateway, the alliance announced Jan. 31. Roll-on, roll-off cargo with construction equipment made up about 67% of breakbulk cargo last year. About 15% consisted of agricultural equipment such as tractors and harvesters, while 12% was machinery such as aluminum casting and injection mold equipment, and 5% was mining, which included drill with equipment and mining trucks. Also, about 5% consisted of miscellaneous cargo such as boats, helicopters and leisure equipment, according to the Seaport Alliance, whose facilities at East Blair 1 and Terminal 7 in Tacoma have been moving breakbulk cargo since 2015. The alliance said new customers and carriers, as well as a…
The Northwest Seaport Alliance, which is the maritime operating alliance between the Seattle and Tacoma ports, ended 2021 with record volumes for breakbulk cargo through its gateway, the alliance announced Jan. 31. Roll-on, roll-off cargo with construction equipment made up about 67% of breakbulk cargo last year. About 15% consisted of agricultural equipment such as tractors and harvesters, while 12% was machinery such as aluminum casting and injection mold equipment, and 5% was mining, which included drill with equipment and mining trucks. Also, about 5% consisted of miscellaneous cargo such as boats, helicopters and leisure equipment, according to the Seaport Alliance, whose facilities at East Blair 1 and Terminal 7 in Tacoma have been moving breakbulk cargo since 2015. The alliance said new customers and carriers, as well as a…
For the past 18 months, much of the industry talk has centered around the COVID-19 pandemic and its fluctuating effects on container movement, including record cargo numbers and congestion at the largest ports on the West Coast. One interesting side effect to the ongoing bottlenecks has been a growing trend of shippers looking at ports with bulk and breakbulk capabilities as a creative alternative to moving commodities. The Port of Vancouver USA, as well as the handful of ports in this feature, have seen more shippers move products in bulk and breakbulk in 2020 and 2021, many of them commodities that traditionally move in containers. “We’ve just seen shippers start to—no pun intended—think outside the box, and start to say, you know what? I can’t move my product in a…
Buoyed by robust export business, the Port of Vancouver in British Columbia saw record cargo volumes move through its gateway in calendar year 2023, according to data released March 22 by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. Canada’s busiest seaport, which is the third-busiest in North America, processed a record 150.4 million metric tons of cargo last year, a 6% year-over-year growth, despite softer import volumes, port data show. “The record cargo and export volumes moved last year demonstrate that one of the port’s key strengths and competitive advantages continues to be its diversification—both in terms of the commodities it can handle and the countries it connects to,” Port Authority President and CEO Peter Xotta said. Various global and domestic challenges affected Vancouver trade in 2023, including a cooling global economy,…
Coast Guard Captain Named POLB Security Director The Port of Long Beach’s harbor commission in late January approved the appointment of U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Ryan Manning as the port’s security director. Manning, currently Captain of the Port of Los Angeles-Long Beach and Commander of Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach, is joining the POLB following his retirement at the end of March. In his present role, Manning leads a team of 550 active duty, reserve and civilian personnel and a 750-member volunteer auxiliary workforce. This team facilitates regional partnerships and conducts federal maritime safety, security, law enforcement and environmental protection operations along the Southern California coast and within the LA-Long Beach port complex. Manning previously was Commanding Officer of Coast Guard Activities Europe, located in Brunssum, the Netherlands. In…
Transportation executive Jeff Bellerud is the Northwest Seaport Alliance’s new chief operating officer, managing the NWSA’s rail, terminal, breakbulk and other marine operations, it was announced Dec. 4. Bellerud joins the Seaport Alliance from CN Rail, where he served as director of intermodal and port operations overseeing port operations. That includes 14 marine terminals spanning seven port authorities in North America and operations for seven inland terminals in Western Canada, according to NWSA. “Jeff’s senior level experience with a Class I railroad and extensive experience in container terminal operations make him an outstanding choice to help drive the alliance forward,” NWSA Deputy CEO Don Esterbrook said. Bellerud graduated from the University of Nevada Las Vegas and received a master’s in business administration from the University of Northern British Columbia. “I…
From multimillion-dollar infrastructure projects to facilities dedicated to the development of the region’s workforce, seaports in the Pacific Northwest are making investments to stay competitive. Those investments in the Puget Sound are being supported by local, state and federal funding. The latest announcement came from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, which announced in early November that four projects in the region were among the recipients in the latest round of Port Infrastructure Development Program grants. That includes $25.3 million for Port of Astoria’s Pier 2 West Rehabilitation Project, $7.7 million toward the Ko’Kwel Wharf Improvements Project in North Bend, Ore., $3.4 million in operational capacity improvements at the Port of Newport to help process and move breakbulk cargo and $54.2 million for the first phase of the Port…
The Port of Olympia is looking for a new executive director. Earlier this month, the port commission accepted the “separation of service” from former Executive Director Sam Gibboney and on Sept. 20 announced its plans to seek a replacement in the coming months. In the interim, the port has installed 19-year port veteran Rudy Rudolph as acting executive director while a search for a new permanent executive director is conducted. “During this transitional period, the commission is committed to prioritizing and ensuring a seamless leadership transition while maintaining the port’s stability and effectiveness,” according to the port’s announcement. Gibboney became the port’s executive director in 2018. She was previously the executive director of the Port of Port Townsend and prior to that, was the director of community development in San…
With growth in some sectors and softening in others, cargo volumes through Canada’s Port of Vancouver increased by 11% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period last year, data released by the port in late September show. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s 2023 mid-year statistics, released Sept. 25, show a total of 75.9 million metric tons (MMT) of goods moved through Port of Vancouver terminals between January 1 and June 30, 2023, compared to 68.6 MMT for the same period in 2022. This is the second largest mid-year volume of cargo ever handled by Port of Vancouver terminal operators (the record of 76.4 MMT was set in 2021) and a new record for the bulk sector at 55.5 MMT, following a significant rebound in grain volumes…
