Pacific Northwest Ports – Pacific Maritime Magazine

Pacific Northwest Ports: Investing in Infrastructure

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…

Pacific Northwest Ports: Transition and Transformation

More than a century ago, the bustling Port of San Francisco dominated the U.S. West Coast’s international and domestic intercoastal deep-water trade. Meanwhile, the ports of Washington and Oregon were busy handling export cargoes such as lumber, agricultural products and coal. Japan’s NYK steamship line had begun service between Japan and Seattle in 1896, but 13 years later a unique agreement between the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co. and Japan’s Osaka Shoshen Kaisha (OSK) Line created what was the very first ship-to-train trans-shipment agreement. It would revolutionize the international movement of goods. Under the terms of the agreement,…