By Karen Robes Meeks
karen@maritimepublishing.com
In recent years, Northern California has seen major public and private investment in the region, whether it’s public money for seaports and transportation entities to make operations more sustainable and efficient or private sector funding for manufacturing and terminal facilities in and around area seaports.
All this investment seeks to bolster trade and logistics business in the region, where seaports move a diverse amount of cargo, ranging from agricultural goods and battery parts to cement and other breakbulk.
Here’s a look at what the major seaports in the region are up to.
Port of Oakland
Northern California’s busiest seaport experienced 12 straight months of loaded import growth during 2024, approaching pre-pandemic levels, with October imports up 11.2%, to 81,498 TEUs, from the same time a year prior.
“The sustained growth in loaded imports reflects stronger consumer demand in Northern California and the broader Western region, as well as efforts by our logistics community to enhance supply chain sufficiency,” Port of Oakland Maritime Director Bryan Brandes said.
He added that the port’s focus on streamlining cargo movement, including extended gate hours and improved trucker turn times, have contributed to the upward trend.
Meanwhile, Oakland’s loaded exports rose 6.7% between January and October, thanks in large part to agricultural products that have made up for a lower demand in recycled paper. The port moved close to $8.5 billion worth of U.S. agricultural goods and ranked first in the U.S. by TEUs in global refrigerated exports, which reached $7 billion in value in 2023.
Fruits and nuts topped Oakland exports with 90,461 TEUs and a value of $3.4 billion, followed by frozen proteins with 49,552 TEUs and $2.95 billion and dairy products with 19,316 TEUs and $680 million.
The port credits a long-term investment in refrigeration, including expanding cold storage and power plugs for reefer containers that enable partners to maintain the quality of perishable goods, Brandes said.
“Looking forward, we plan to continue targeting the cold chain sector, both through infrastructure investment and by marketing Oakland as the gateway for agriculture exports to global markets,” he said, adding that the port is actively exploring opportunities to expand import refrigerated cargo volumes.
“The Bay Area’s proximity to a diverse and affluent consumer market makes Oakland an ideal hub for inbound refrigerated goods and we plan to leverage this advantage in the years to come,” Brandes remarked.
The Port of Oakland is also embarking on various infrastructure projects, including the Outer Harbor development set to start in 2025 and be completed by 2028. The project, which was awarded a $50 million federal grant in November, seeks to modernize aging infrastructure, improve berthing capacity and enhance cargo-handling capabilities.
“These upgrades are essential to keeping Oakland competitive as a major West Coast gateway, enabling us to accommodate larger vessels and improve operational efficiency,” Brandes said.
The port is also moving forward on zero emissions projects. In October 2024, Oakland won a $322 million EPA grant to expedite the port’s conversion to zero-emissions cargo handling operations. The grant is intended to finance 663 pieces of zero-emissions equipment, including 475 drayage trucks and 188 pieces of cargo-handling equipment.
Purchase and deployment are expected to be incremental and could start as early as 2025, according to the port.
Other future port initiatives include looking to expand Oakland’s turning basins to accommodate larger vessels and advancing the development of the former Howard Terminal, which hasn’t been operational since 2013.
The port’s expected to consider a number of proposals for the property, for uses ranging from maritime, manufacturing and distribution to educational, entertainment, recreation, cultural and water-oriented projects, Brandes said.
As for cargo volumes, the port is cautiously optimistic that growth will continue, though much depends on global economic conditions and trade policy, he added.
Port of Stockton
Located in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the Port of Stockton, which specializes in dry and liquid bulk cargo, saw its liquid and general cargoes increase in 2024 and its dry bulk drop by about 35%, port spokesman Pete Grossgart told Pacific Maritime.
What’s really affected the port’s tonnage, he said, is coal, which is down about 400,000 tons.
“And that’s largely related to economics overseas,” Grossgart said. “Australian coal is cheaper now and so the shipper is selling it domestically.”
With imports accounting for about three-quarters of Stockton’s cargo volumes, expected tariffs imposed by the incoming Trump administration are expected to impact the port, he added.
“The tariffs are gonna hurt us, particularly on general cargo,” Grossgart said, citing steel cargo primarily from Korea and Taiwan, which is up about 41% at the port in 2024.
“We can’t see that continuing, to be honest with you,” he said. “And then you start talking about, ‘Okay, so we’re imposing tariffs. What are other countries going to do in retaliation?’ I mean, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out there. A year from now, things will be very different.”
Diversifying its cargo business will be key for the port, which is pursuing interests that export biomass, a renewable energy stemming from organic materials such as plants and animals. In 2021, the port received its first barge of renewable fuels.
“That is becoming a bigger and bigger part of our portfolio,” Grossgart said.
The Denmar Natural Soda Ash Export Terminal and Remedial Activities project at the port gives Stockton another option to diversify. The project, which includes a new bulk cargo marine terminal for soda ash exports in the West Complex, is expected to begin construction in the first quarter of 2025 and begin operations by 2028, said Jeff Wingfield, the port’s deputy port director of regulatory and public affairs.
“Diversification is critical; I mean, it’s mission one on the cargo side to try to get new and exciting cargoes,” he said.
Meanwhile, the port is moving forward on electrification. In 2018, the port began a concerted effort to replace equipment with greener versions and develop plans to track and lower emissions. And in 2023, the port finished its MD/HD Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Blueprint, setting the stage for the deployment of electric vehicle technologies.
“Stockton is one of the most heavily impacted areas for pollution and emissions … so we are trying to do everything that we can as we grow and develop to reduce the emissions on the community around us,” Wingfield said.
The port announced in November that it netted the single biggest federal investment in port history, a grant of more than $110 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through its Clean Ports Program. The money allows Stockton to be in a position to expedite its zero-emission efforts, including equipment deployment and infrastructure.
About 40% of the port’s cargo handling equipment runs on zero emissions; with the grant funding, that number comes closer to 95%, Wingfield said, by allowing the port to replace diesel forklifts with zero-emission technology and purchase two electric cranes and support infrastructure.
Growing the port sustainably, modernizing infrastructure and pursuing more grant funding are top goals for the port in the coming years, Wingfield said.
West Sacramento
Situated 79 nautical miles from San Francisco, the Port of West Sacramento mainly moves rice exports and cement imports through its North Terminal facility, operated by SSA Marine.
The port handled about 900,000 tons of cargo in 2024, with cement accounting for about 630,000 tons and rice for about 270,000 tons. These cargo numbers have been consistent for the last several years, according to Port General Manager Rick Toft.
This is in addition to CEMEX Sacramento Cement Terminal, a private facility that processes about 400,000 tons of cement, he added.
As for tariffs, Toft is aware of the potential impact they could bring to cement imports. In the previous Trump administration, import tariffs were imposed primarily on China, where most of the cement handled by the port previously originated. Those imports now come from Vietnam.
“If those tariffs are extended beyond China and more broadly to Asia in general, then we could feel some impact,” he said.
However, Toft expects the outlook for cargo volumes to be stable.
Meanwhile, Alameda, Calif.-based battery parts manufacturer Sepion Technologies announced in October that it plans to construct a 1 million square-foot manufacturing facility for lithium-ion battery separators in the Capitol Innovation District.
Sepion said it selected the district because of its proximity to the port and the area’s emerging Bridge District neighborhood. Production is anticipated to start in 2027.
The port is installing street and utility infrastructure for the project, Toft said.
The project, which has secured a $17.5 million grant from CALSTART and the California Energy Commission’s PowerForward: ZEV Battery Manufacturing Grant Program, is expected to annually produce 50 tons of polymer and 50 million square meters of coated separators. That’s enough for 50,000 electric vehicles, according to Sepion.
The company is seeking to close a gap on a projected deficit of battery separators in the coming years, citing a McKinsey & Company report. The study forecasted a 54% drop in domestic battery separator supply by 2030.
“We are excited to launch this transformative project to address the domestic battery separator supply gap,” Sepion CEO and co-founder Peter Frischmann said. “With this facility, we’re advancing the clean-energy transition, creating jobs to solidify California’s position as a leader in sustainable manufacturing and showcasing how American battery innovation can scale from lab to factory.”
Meanwhile, the port is partnering with the city of West Sacramento to construct a bridge over the ship channel at Enterprise Boulevard. The project would create a new truck route straight up to the freeway and really allow us to develop the port’s real estate.
The incoming structure’s expected to change the traffic circulation in the city and in and around the port and in all the truck traffic that’s creating congestion around the port’s main entrance, officials said.
The estimated $200 million bridge project is currently in the design phase, Toft said, adding that he expects design and environmental analysis for the project to take two to three years.
The port is also in the early stages of a modernization project that involves demolishing obsolete cargo-handling facilities, primarily conveyor systems that aren’t in use.
“The cargo that they used to handle are no longer viable here, so we’re kind of clearing the deck for future facilities,” he said.
The port is converting the high-voltage network that was used primarily to power those conveyor systems over to EV charging, Toft said.
“We’re not cold ironing here yet because the vessels that call here can’t receive the power at this point, but we have the potential to use that power to cold iron in the future,” he said.
Terminal operator SSA is in the process of converting diesel yard-handling equipment to electric equipment, specifically heavy forklifts that handle rice. At least eight forklifts run on electricity out of 20, Toft said, adding that the port installed some fast chargers about 18 months ago in the first phase of that installation project. He anticipates launching phase two in 2025.
“The goal is to be an all-electric terminal,” he said.
In the coming years, the port’s concentrating its energy on modernization projects, maintaining and optimizing existing facilities and advancing the bridge project, Toft said.
San Francisco
The Port of San Francisco has a number of projects in the works that are designed to make its maritime operations more sustainable.
In November, the port and San Francisco Bay Ferry announced that it secured a $55 million EPA grant to finish building out a high-speed zero-emission ferry network.
The network seeks to link transportation centers that the SF Bay Ferry serves, connecting areas such as Alameda, Oakland, Richmond and Vallejo to financial and biotech employment hubs.
The funding would help pay for building a fast 400-passenger, zero-emission vessel and a new ferry terminal in Mission Bay, installing electrification infrastructure at the Downtown San Francisco Ferry Terminal and establishing a regional maritime workforce development program.
Design of the Downtown Ferry Terminal Electrification Project is in progress, and is anticipated to be completed in 2025, port spokesman Eric Young said.
The procurement, bidding and award process is expected to be complete by 2026, with construction beginning later that year and substantial completion and operation expected by 2027, Young said.
Procurement, bidding and award for the Mission Bay Ferry Landing Shore Power and Anchoring Systems Project is also anticipated to be finished by 2025, with construction starting in 2026, and completion and operation by 2027.
Meanwhile, construction for the Zero-Emission Electric Vessel project is set to start in 2025, with completion and operation expected by 2028.
The port wrapped 2024 with the announcement of an approved Fisherman’s Wharf Revitalization project term sheet proposal, paving the way for long-term investment in the iconic destination.
The term sheet between Fisherman’s Wharf Revitalized LLC and the Port of San Francisco lays out major project plans, structures for financing and lease terms that encompass the development of the area’s fish-processing hub Pier 45 and parts of Seawall Lots 300-301.
Fisherman’s Wharf Revitalization LLC intends to upgrade Shed A and rebuild Shed C to accommodate fishing storage, a processing facility with an area for public viewing and parking. The “Fisherman’s Wharf Experience” would feature a seafood market, food hall, exhibits about the fishing industry and wharf and space for events and performances. There’s also plans for infrastructure investment into the pier.
The developer’s plans for Seawall Lot 300-301 includes a larger waterfront plaza and shared-use promenade, as well as a visitor center, beverage garden and short-term vacation rentals, according to the port.
This follows the port’s November unveiling of Fisherman’s Wharf Promenade, a family-friendly space between Powell and Jefferson streets at Pier 43 to the Franciscan Crab Restaurant at Pier 45.
“This is a major milestone for what will be the most transformative improvement along the northern waterfront since the Embarcadero freeway came down,” Mayor London Breed said of the project term sheet on Dec. 11.
“Once completed, this will transform the Fisherman’s Wharf to become a place where San Franciscans will enjoy coming to and visitors will be drawn to from across the Bay Area and beyond,” she said.
KAREN ROBES MEEKS, a Southern California native, is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years’ writing experience. Her articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Orange County Register and Long Beach Press-Telegram, where she worked as a reporter for nearly 14 years. Her work has been recognized by the California News Publishers Association, the Associated Press News Executives Council and the Los Angeles Press Club.