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December 19, 2013
Port of Tacoma container volumes continued to see double-digit growth in November, marking a 13 percent improvement year to date to 1,534,476 TEUs.
Demand for auto parts, furniture, toys, tires and sporting goods helped drive full import container volumes up nearly 24 percent year to date through November to 545,242 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units). Meanwhile, agricultural products and such bulk commodities as scrap paper and wood in the rough helped export volumes improve 17 percent to 402,410 TEUs.
See all Port of Tacoma cargo stats.
All Port of Tacoma terminals and the Administration Building will be closed Tuesday, Dec. 25, for the Christmas holiday and Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013, for the New Year’s Day holiday.
All Tacoma terminals except Washington United Terminals are expected to be closed Monday, Dec. 24, for the Christmas Eve holiday. The Administration Building will also be closed Dec. 24.
Most Tacoma terminals are expected to be closed Monday, Dec. 31, for the New Year’s Eve holiday. The Port-operated Terminal 7 (breakbulk), Washington United Terminals and Totem Ocean Trailer Express Terminal are expected to be open. Visit our website for more information and links to terminal websites.
At their Thursday meeting, commissioners are expected to consider a 25-year lease extension with Cargill for the Tacoma grain export facility.
The facility employs nearly 80 full-time staff. Cargill requested the lease extension to create more certainty in their supply chain, as they recently signed 25- to 30-year leases at facilities in Asia.
Commissioners are also expected to consider requests for design work on a Port parcel, to extend a contract with the Tacoma-Pierce County Economic Develop Board and an agreement for benefit broker services.
See the full agenda.
Commission meetings begin at noon in Room 104 of The Fabulich Center, 3600 Port of Tacoma Road. Meetings are available live and on demand from the Port's website.
CEO John Wolfe and Tacoma City Mayor Marilyn Strickland will talk about future plans for economic growth at the Jan. 2 City Club of Tacoma dinner. The discussion will be moderated by Kathleen Cooper of The New Tribune.
Dinner will be served at 6:45 p.m. in the rotunda at the University of Puget Sound, 1500 N. Warner in Tacoma. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the program begins at 7 p.m. Cost is $25 for members and $30 for non-members. Learn more on the City Club of Tacoma’s website.
Congressman-elect Denny Heck convened stakeholders from around the South Sound for a roundtable discussion Dec. 17 on the importance of completing State Route 167. Two members of Congress, the state secretary of transportation, legislators, mayors, business and labor representatives comprised the nearly forty community leaders sitting at the table.
Heck identified completing the highway design as his No. 1 priority, and he heard unanimous support from the group. Mobilizing grassroots support for the project is also important, the group agreed.
Washington State Department of Transportation Sec. Paula Hammond noted her department has renamed the project. It will now be referred to as the SR 167 completion project, instead of the extension project, as the highay’s original vision and construction plan called for an additional six miles between Puyallup and Tacoma. The completed project will improve access to the Port and is expected to fuel $10.1 billion in job growth.
Learn more on the SR 167 blog.
Jason Jordan, director of environmental programs, shared the Port’s strategy for creating habitat and mitigation sites at an international symposium earlier this month in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Jordan was among several West Coast port environmental experts invited to present at the two-day “U.S.-Taiwan Sustainability Symposium: Creating Sustainable Cities and Promoting Sustainable Ports in the Asia Pacific Region.” It was organized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in partnership with the American Institute in Taiwan, the Environmental Protection Administration-Taiwan, and the port and city of Kaohsiung.
The Port has strong ties to Taiwan. We established a sister port relationship with the Port of Kaohsiung in 1988, and two Taiwanese shipping lines, Evergreen Line and Yang Ming Line, regularly call Tacoma.
Get a behind-the-scenes look at some of the 43,000 local jobs related to Port activities on board a free guided bus tour. We are now accepting reservations for the first six tours of 2013:
- Jan. 22, at 10 a.m.
- Feb. 15, at 1 p.m.
- March 20, at 10 a.m.
- April 22, at 10 a.m. (special tour of our public access and habitat sites)
- May 21, at 1 p.m.
- June 21, at 10 a.m.
The 75-minute tour leaves from the Fabulich Center in Tacoma. Space is limited and reservations are required. Reserve your free seat by calling (253) 383-9463 or emailing bustours@portoftacoma.com.
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