THE Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) has welcomed the first vessel to call at Terminal 5 in Seattle since the facility was closed in 2019 for renovations, the first of several terminal and infrastructure projects that will give the nwsa much-needed additional capacity in the coming year, reported IHS Media.
'One of the unique opportunities we have in the [Pacific Northwest] is that we have the ability to add capacity,' said NWSA executive director John Wolfe.
The Seattle-Tacoma gateway handled 11.4 per cent more imports from Asia in the first 11 months of 2021 than the same period the previous year. Those gains came as transpacific carriers sought out alternative gateways to avoid unprecedented congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
T-5, the former home of APL, is in the midst of a four-year, US$500 million expansion and modernisation project that when completed in the first quarter of 2023 will restore the terminal's 185 acres for container handling and on-dock rail.
The Phase 1 opening will provide total annual capacity of 250,000 to 300,000 container lifts through a single berth. The Phase 2 project, scheduled for completion early next year, will include opening of a second berth. The site will have eight superpostpanamax cranes, and at full buildout next year the total annual capacity of T-5 will be 500,000 lifts, Mr Wolfe said.
The on-dock rail portion of T-5 will allow the NWSA to increase its inland point intermodal (IPI) service to the Midwest and beyond.
Mr Wolfe said the NWSA is marketing this additional capacity to ocean carriers and shippers who had pulled back on IPI volumes through the west coast last summer, when BSNF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad experienced severe congestion at busy intermodal ramps in Chicago and elsewhere in the Midwest.
'We've already begun to see some of that intermodal volume shift back,' said NWSA chief operations officer Thomas Bellerud.
West coast ports encourage IPI shipments because each train eliminates 250-plus truck moves, thereby relieving some of the pressure on terminal gates. Also, rail container dwell times on the terminals are generally less than three days, further contributing to reduced terminal congestion.
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'One of the unique opportunities we have in the [Pacific Northwest] is that we have the ability to add capacity,' said NWSA executive director John Wolfe.
The Seattle-Tacoma gateway handled 11.4 per cent more imports from Asia in the first 11 months of 2021 than the same period the previous year. Those gains came as transpacific carriers sought out alternative gateways to avoid unprecedented congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
T-5, the former home of APL, is in the midst of a four-year, US$500 million expansion and modernisation project that when completed in the first quarter of 2023 will restore the terminal's 185 acres for container handling and on-dock rail.
The Phase 1 opening will provide total annual capacity of 250,000 to 300,000 container lifts through a single berth. The Phase 2 project, scheduled for completion early next year, will include opening of a second berth. The site will have eight superpostpanamax cranes, and at full buildout next year the total annual capacity of T-5 will be 500,000 lifts, Mr Wolfe said.
The on-dock rail portion of T-5 will allow the NWSA to increase its inland point intermodal (IPI) service to the Midwest and beyond.
Mr Wolfe said the NWSA is marketing this additional capacity to ocean carriers and shippers who had pulled back on IPI volumes through the west coast last summer, when BSNF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad experienced severe congestion at busy intermodal ramps in Chicago and elsewhere in the Midwest.
'We've already begun to see some of that intermodal volume shift back,' said NWSA chief operations officer Thomas Bellerud.
West coast ports encourage IPI shipments because each train eliminates 250-plus truck moves, thereby relieving some of the pressure on terminal gates. Also, rail container dwell times on the terminals are generally less than three days, further contributing to reduced terminal congestion.
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