The Northwest Seaport Alliance is a
port authority based in the
Puget Sound region
The Puget Sound region is a coastal area of the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. state of Washington, including Puget Sound, the Puget Sound lowlands, and the surrounding region roughly west of the Cascade Range and east of the Olympic Mountains. ...
of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, comprising the seaports of
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
and
Tacoma in
Washington state
Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
. The combined port authority is the
third largest cargo port in the United States and by container volume.
The two seaports, which had been rivals for most of the 20th century but lost ground to nearby ports in
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, proposed a merger of marine cargo operations in 2014. A
public development authority was created in 2015 and approved by the
Federal Maritime Commission
The United States Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is an independent federal agency based in Washington, D.C. that is responsible for the regulation of oceanborne international transportation of the U.S. It is chaired by Daniel B. Maffei.
His ...
, resulting in the formation of The Northwest Seaport Alliance on August 4, 2015.
History
Background
![Port of Tacoma 8276](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Port_of_Tacoma_8276.JPG)
In 1911, the
Washington State Legislature authorized the creation of port districts through public referendums. The ports of Seattle and Tacoma were formed separately in 1911 and 1918, respectively, to establish public control of municipal waterfronts. The two ports, located apart,
facilitated exports of the state's natural resources and imports from
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
, which intensified during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
at the end of the decade. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the ports were used for military
shipyards and other wartime uses, reverting to civilian trade afterwards.
The rise of cargo
containerization
Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers and ISO containers). Containerization is also referred as "Container Stuffing" or "Container Loading", which is the p ...
in the 1960s helped offset declining traffic to the Port of Seattle, leading to a $80 million modernization and expansion program begun in 1968. The Port of Tacoma debuted its own cargo container-ready facilities in 1970, and gradually lured away several large shipping lines from Seattle through the 1990s, including Alaska-based
Totem Ocean Trailer Express
TOTE Maritime is an owner/operator of domestic shipping in the United States. They specialize in moving cargo between North America to Puerto Rico and Alaska. TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico was the owner of '' El Faro'', a large container ship that s ...
(1976),
SeaLand
SeaLand, a division of the Maersk Group, is an American intra-regional container shipping company headquartered in Miramar, Florida with representation in 29 countries across the Americas. The company offers ocean and intermodal services using ...
(1983),
Maersk
(), also known simply as Maersk (), is a Danish shipping company, active in ocean and inland freight transportation and associated services, such as supply chain management and port operation. Maersk was the largest container shipping line a ...
(1985),
K Line
is a Japanese transportation company. It owns a fleet that includes dry cargo ships (bulk carriers), container ships, liquefied natural gas carriers, Ro-Ro ships, tankers, and container terminals. It used to be the fourteenth largest contai ...
(1988), and
Evergreen Marine
Evergreen Marine Corporation () is a Taiwanese container transportation and shipping company that is headquartered in Luzhu District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan. With over 150 container ships, it is part of the Evergreen Group conglomerate of transpo ...
(1991).
The Port of Seattle's largest line,
Hyundai Merchant Marine, moved to a new, $65 million terminal in Tacoma in 1996.
By the turn of the 21st century, Tacoma eclipsed Seattle to become the largest port in the state and 7th largest in the nation, but fell behind ports in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
and nearby
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
. In 2009, Seattle regained its title as the larger of the ports, but both suffered losses in overall cargo volume and revenue.
Tacoma lost Maersk to Seattle after Maersk signed a vessel sharing agreement with
CMA-CGM
CMA CGM S.A. is a French container transportation and shipping company. It is the world’s 3rd largest container shipping company, using 257 shipping routes between 420 ports in 160 countries. Its headquarters are in Marseille, France The name ...
in 2009, but three years later attracted an alliance of three major international shippers from Seattle who had comprised 20 percent of cargo for the port.
Merger proposals
At a 1985 meeting of the Port Development Task Force of the
Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, visiting
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorize ...
executive director
Peter C. Goldmark suggested that the merger of the ports of Seattle and Tacoma would give the region "decades of advantage" over competitors in Southern California. The Port of Tacoma called a merger unnecessary and costly to their city, citing lower costs to expand in Tacoma and scaring off possible operators with higher fees; the Port of Seattle stated they were uninterested in a merger unless they could guarantee an equal partnership with Tacoma.
The two ports met in the late 1990s to discuss collaboration or a potential merger, amid the consolidating of shipping lines (favoring centralized
distribution center
A distribution center for a set of products is a warehouse or other specialized building, often with refrigeration or air conditioning, which is stocked with products (goods) to be redistributed to retailers, to wholesalers, or directly to co ...
s in fewer ports) and the merging of the state's railroad system into
BNSF Railway. In 2012, Port of Seattle staff estimated that rate competition with Tacoma had reduced cargo revenue by $35 million annually (approximately $70,000 per acre), based on comparisons with the
Port of Oakland
The Port of Oakland is a major container ship facility located in Oakland, California, in the San Francisco Bay. It was the first major port on the Pacific Coast of the United States to build terminals for container ships. As of 2011 it was the f ...
, which has no competing port in the region.
Both ports were supported by taxpayer subsidies by their respective counties and lost revenue as shipping and terminal operators used their rivalry to negotiate lower rates.
Both factors led to the Washington State Legislature proposing a merger of the ports of Seattle, Tacoma and
Everett in 2008, which stalled after the Port of Tacoma opposed.
Competition for the two ports intensified in the late 2000s and early 2010s, coming primarily from the new
Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
The Port of Vancouver is the largest port in Canada and the fourth largest in North America by tonnes of cargo, facilitating trade between Canada and more than 170 world economies. The port is managed by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, whic ...
, an amalgamation of three Vancouver-area ports, as well as Los Angeles and the
East Coast (as a result of the
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...
expansion project). In 2014, the market share of ports in
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
tripled and overtook the combined traffic of Seattle and Tacoma for the first time.
The port commissions began talks of a merger in early 2014, including an agreement to share rates and other information under federal oversight and an "unusual" joint announcement for the transfer of a local shipping line to Tacoma.
Formation of alliance
On October 7, 2014, the ports of Seattle and Tacoma formally announced their intention to move management of their marine cargo businesses to a joint alliance in March, ending decades of competition, because of increased threats from British Columbia and other ports.
A full merger, including the two port commissions, was opposed by Tacoma, who feared that the more populous
King County would have more votes on the combined commission than
Pierce County, who were more dependent on the cargo port. In March 2015, the plan was pushed back to August while working on specifics of the alliance, including a decision on which
legal entity
In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason for ...
it would fall under. The Washington State Legislature and Governor
Jay Inslee
Jay Robert Inslee (; born February 9, 1951) is an American politician, lawyer, and economist who has served as the 23rd governor of Washington since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a member of the U.S. House of Represent ...
approved the creation of a port development authority, similar to Washington's existing
public development authority designation, in late April.
On June 5, 2015, the two port commissions voted unanimously to merge their marine cargo operations into the alliance, christened "The Northwest Seaport Alliance", pending approval from the
Federal Maritime Commission
The United States Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is an independent federal agency based in Washington, D.C. that is responsible for the regulation of oceanborne international transportation of the U.S. It is chaired by Daniel B. Maffei.
His ...
(FMC).
The FMC approved the planned alliance on July 23, 2015. On August 4, 2015, at the
Federal Way
Federal Way is a city in King County, Washington, United States. One of the most recently incorporated cities in the county, its population was 101,030 at the 2020 census. Federal Way is the tenth-largest city in Washington and the fifth-larges ...
city hall, the two port commissions unanimously approved a formal agreement creating The Northwest Seaport Alliance. Under the agreement, properties from both ports would be placed in a common pool and the operations would be overseen by both elected port commissions. Port of Tacoma CEO John Wolfe was selected to be the alliance's first
chief executive
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
while remaining with Tacoma.
The combined port authority became the
third largest cargo port in the United States and by container volume.
Early years
On February 29, 2016, The Northwest Seaport Alliance invited the
CMA CGM ''Benjamin Franklin'', the largest cargo ship to visit the United States, to dock at the Port of Seattle's Terminal 18. The move was used to test the terminal's capabilities in handling a ship of that size (in the range of 18,000
twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs) and promote expansion of Terminal 5 into a facility to handle larger ships. In April 2016, the alliance approved $141 million in funding to upgrade piers and cranes at the Port of Tacoma's Husky Terminal.
The alliance celebrated its first anniversary in August 2016 with a new joint operations center and continued growth in traffic, despite a drop in shipping caused by slower growth in Asia. Later that month,
Hanjin Shipping
Hanjin Shipping Co., Ltd. was a South Korean integrated logistics and container transport company. Prior to its liquidation, Hanjin Shipping was South Korea's largest container line and one of the world's top ten container carriers in terms of ca ...
, a major operator in Seattle, filed for bankruptcy and was barred from the Port of Seattle over fears of unpaid terminal fees. The bankruptcy sent the global shipping industry into a panic, with several Hanjin ships anchored off the Pacific coast awaiting approval to unload cargo. In December, Hanjin's Terminal 46 in Seattle was sold to an affiliate of
Mediterranean Shipping Company
Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC) is an international shipping line founded by Gianluigi Aponte in Italy in 1970, with headquarters in Switzerland since 1978. The privately held company is owned by the Aponte family. It has been the lar ...
for $78 million; the move was opposed by the Port of Seattle, who filed a request to block the sale over a lack of correspondence about the new lease and security deposit.
Governance
The Northwest Seaport Alliance is a port development authority created by chapter 53.57 of the
Revised Code of Washington The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) is the compilation of all permanent laws currently in force in the U.S. state of Washington. Temporary laws such as appropriations acts are excluded. It is published by the Washington State Statute Law Committ ...
. It is governed by the port commissions of Seattle and Tacoma, whose members are elected by the citizens of
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
and
Pierce
Pierce may refer to:
Places Canada
* Pierce Range, a mountain range on Vancouver Island, British Columbia
United States
* Pierce, Colorado
* Pierce, Idaho
* Pierce, Illinois
* Pierce, Kentucky
* Pierce, Nebraska
* Pierce, Texas
* Pierce, We ...
counties, respectively, to four-year terms. The alliance is a separate legal entity from the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma, for contracting, auditing and reporting purposes.
The Northwest Seaport Alliance budget for 2017 consists of $96.8 million in operating expenses, $93.4 million in revenue, and a separate capital expenses fund of $270.4 million.
Economy
The ports of Seattle and Tacoma funded a joint
economic impact study in 2013 and found that the ports' marine cargo divisions support a combined $138.1 billion in economic activity, equivalent to a third of
Washington state's gross state product
Gross regional domestic product (GRDP), gross domestic product of region (GDPR), or gross state product (GSP) is a statistic that measures the size of a region's economy. It is the aggregate of gross value added (GVA) of all resident producer uni ...
. The ports support more than 48,000 jobs, including 18,900 direct jobs, and produced $379 million in state and local taxes.
Cargo
For the year of 2016, The Northwest Seaport Alliance reported its container traffic totaled 3.6 million TEUs, an increase of 2 percent from 2015, and 28 million
metric ton
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s.
The two ports serve 22 international container carriers, as well as 30 other carriers, providing regular service to seaports in
East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...
,
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
,
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
,
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
,
Australia,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, and
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
. The alliance's top imports include industrial machinery, electronics, vehicles, toys, and furniture; its top exports include
oil seed
Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or f ...
s and grains, industrial machinery, prepared vegetables and fruits, fish and seafood, edible fruits, and metals.
Connections
The Northwest Seaport Alliance has direct rail connections to the
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...
and
Midwest regions of the United States, provided by
BNSF Railway and
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
. The Port of Seattle owns
Seattle–Tacoma International Airport
Seattle–Tacoma International Airport , branded as SEA Airport and also referred to as Sea–Tac (), is the primary commercial airport serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It is in the city of SeaTac, which ...
, the region's primary airport for passengers and cargo, located from Seattle and from Tacoma. The two ports of Seattle and Tacoma are also connected to the
state highway system, including
Interstate 5
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...
between both ports and
Interstate 90 in Seattle.
The
Washington State Department of Transportation
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT or WashDOT, both ) is a governmental agency that constructs, maintains, and regulates the use of transportation infrastructure in the U.S. state of Washington. Established in 1905, it is ...
plans to enhance road connections between the two ports and Seattle–Tacoma International Airport through the Puget Sound Gateway Program. Approved in 2015 by the state legislature, the $1.6 billion program will extend
State Route 167 to the Port of Tacoma and
State Route 509 to Interstate 5, creating a direct freeway connection between the three areas.
Facilities
The Northwest Seaport Alliance owns a total of of property in King and Pierce counties, including from the Port of Tacoma (South Harbor) and from the Port of Seattle (North Harbor).
The two harbors have 10 total
container terminals with 23
berths and 47 cranes; there are also 7 non-container terminals used primarily for
breakbulk
In shipping, break-bulk, breakbulk, or break bulk cargo, also called general cargo, refers to goods that are stowed on board ship in individually counted units. Traditionally, the large numbers of items are recorded on distinct bills of lading ...
cargo and automobiles via
roll-on/roll-off
Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...
ships.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2015 establishments in Washington (state)
Port authorities in the United States
Ports and harbors of Washington (state)
Transportation in Seattle
Water transport in Seattle