Port of Seattle Board Gets New Commission President, 1st of Color

Port of Seattle Board Gets New Commission President, 1st of Color

For the first time in its 111-year history, the Port of Seattle’s Commission will be led by a person of color with the selection of Sam Cho as president of the port commission on Jan 10. “I am honored and humbled to begin my term as Port of Seattle Commission president,” said Cho, who is also the commission’s youngest-ever president. “Thanks to the work of this commission, the port staff, major stakeholders and everyday community members, we are making real progress on making your port more efficient, sustainable, and a greater source of economic opportunity,” he continued. “I look forward…
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IMO Adopts Whale Protections, Extended West Coast Vessel Lanes

IMO Adopts Whale Protections, Extended West Coast Vessel Lanes

Vessels along the California coast are to begin lining up for port entry farther west and away from the continental shelf in an effort to protect endangered whales beginning this summer, NOAA announced Jan. 5. The International Maritime Organization recently adopted a proposal by the U.S. to expand the area that ships should avoid to allow more protected space for endangered blue, fin and humpback whales. The proposal is expected to go into effect after the spring. The 13-nautical-mile vessel traffic lane extension means that ships would line up for port entry farther west. It also means that the area…
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From the Editor: The Infiltration of MSC

From the Editor: The Infiltration of MSC

One of the dark underbellies of the maritime shipping industry that no one likes to talk about is smuggling. But the weekly magazine Bloomberg Businessweek has taken on the problem head-on in an expose detailing how one of the biggest goods shippers in the world, MSC – Mediterranean Shipping Company – was infiltrated in recent years by Balkan gangs engaging in vast amounts of drug smuggling. In recent years, officials have found that multiple MSC vessels were carrying drugs, and a $100 million ship, the Gayane, was seized by authorities after finding $1 billion worth of cocaine onboard. This information…
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Port of LA to Provide Air Quality Monitoring Update

Port of LA to Provide Air Quality Monitoring Update

The public can hear the latest of the Port of Los Angeles’ Air Quality Monitoring Program at a Zoom meeting set for Wednesday, Jan. 11. Set to take place from 1 to 3 p.m., the meeting is expected to have an update on the air monitoring network upgrade and annual air monitoring report, according to the port. The program includes “four air monitoring stations that measure a comprehensive set of air pollutants within the vicinity of Los Angeles Harbor, including San Pedro, Wilmington and Terminal Island,” the port said. “As part of the program, meteorological monitoring stations operate adjacent to…
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Shepard Named Port of Bellingham Board President

Shepard Named Port of Bellingham Board President

Port of Bellingham Commissioner Michael Shepard will lead the three-member Board of Commissioners as its president for 2023, the port announced Jan. 3. Shepard, who represents District 1’s South Whatcom County, is a Research Associate at Western Washington University's Center for Pacific Northwest Studies and is an adjunct lecturer teaching environmental studies, anthropology and cultural sustainability at Goucher College, a private liberal arts school in Maryland, according to his bio. “Commissioner Shepard is a trustee for the Kulshan Community Land Trust and has worked on a broad range of issues important to the Port of Bellingham including workforce development, marine…
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Port of Grays Harbor’s Westport Marina Modernization Project Nets Funding

Port of Grays Harbor’s Westport Marina Modernization Project Nets Funding

The Port of Grays Harbor plans to begin the first phase of its Westport Marina Modernization Project this year, an effort made possible by Rep. Derek Kilmer, who secured Community Project Funding in the federal 2023 fiscal year budget, the port announced Dec. 30. The $750,000 is expected to pay for designing the project’s float modernization and reconfiguration, with a focus toward replacing floats 11, 15, 17 and 21. Port Commission President Tom Quigg said the port is grateful for Kilmer’s work in securing funding for the project.  “Community Project Funding at this critical early stage supports the important work…
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WPPA Hires Port of Seattle’s ffitch as New Executive Director

WPPA Hires Port of Seattle’s ffitch as New Executive Director

The Washington Public Ports Association has hired Port of Seattle Government Relations Manager Eric ffitch as its new executive director, the WPPA announced in December. Currently, ffitch oversees the port’s Washington state government advocacy efforts in Olympia, among other responsibilities. He has more than 13 years of experience in federal and state government relations, according to the WPPA, and has worked in the other Washington as Congressional staff for former-Rep. Jay Inslee, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici and Sen. Maria Cantwell. While in Sen. Cantwell’s office, he served as a lead staff member on the passage of a freight transportation package in…
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From the Editor: Happy New Year

From the Editor: Happy New Year

Hello and Happy New Year, This is just a reminder that starting the first week of January, the Pacific Maritime Online newsletter is going from a twice a week schedule to being sent out on just Tuesdays. Among the reasons for this is to align the digital newsletter more closely with two of PacMar Online’s sister publications, Professional Mariner Online and Fishermen’s News Online, which each generate newsletters once a week. (Another of our sister publications, Ocean Navigator, has a monthly newsletter, FYI.) With the PacMar Online newsletter becoming a weekly, each edition will contain five stories, rather than four…
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Overall November Cargo Drops at Port of Oakland

Overall November Cargo Drops at Port of Oakland

The Port of Oakland saw its overall cargo volumes in November fall by double digits year over year, according to data released by the port Dec. 28. The Northern California seaport processed 131,929 loaded TEUs overall, a 15% drop when comparing this past November to November 2021. Full imports in November 2022 tumbled by 17.4% year over year with 68,646 TEUs, while exports dipped by 12.3% to 63,283 TEUs. Meanwhile, empty containers soared 75.6% in November compared to the same time the previous year. The port is attributing the softening numbers to weakened demand, declining ocean rates, continued canceled sailings…
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Ocean Network Express Acquiring West Coast Container Terminals

Ocean Network Express Acquiring West Coast Container Terminals

Japan-based shipping company Ocean Network Express (ONE) on Dec. 27 revealed that it has signed agreements to acquire a 51% stake in two terminal operators – TraPac LLC and Yusen Terminals (YTI), which are both currently held by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. – and a shipping company, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, commonly known as NYK Line. TraPac is a container terminal operator and vessel stevedore that provides container terminal services in Los Angeles and Oakland. YTI is a container terminal operator and vessel stevedore that provides container terminal services in Los Angeles. “These acquisitions are part of the integration of…
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