Local port cargo volumes slightly improve, but not yet ‘where we’d like to see them’
The Northwest Seaport Alliance on Friday offered an update on how cargo volumes are measuring up amid the ongoing pandemic-driven economic slowdown.
While some improvement was seen in August at its ports in Seattle and Tacoma, NWSA CEO John Wolfe noted volumes still were falling short of previous year’s totals.
“Our cargo volumes for the month of August have been better than the past months, yet not where we’d like to see them,” Wolfe said during Friday’s briefing, “and we’re encouraged by the fact that with our container volumes, we saw about a 13 percent decrease over last August yet, as compared to the previous months where we’ve seen an average of closer to 20 percent drop over previous year, that’s encouraging news.”
Wolfe credited consumer adjustment to the pandemic with more spending on home projects with products sourced from overseas, along with the normal ramping up of holiday shipping, as contributing factors to some modest uptick.
The NWSA saw 276,407 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in August, down 13.8 percent compared with August 2019.
“While down 3.9 percent year-over-year, full imports reached their highest monthly volume for the year as August marked the beginning of the peak shipping season,” the NWSA noted in a report released after Friday’s news conference.
The ports of Seattle and Tacoma saw a total of 58 blank sailings (canceled vessel sailings) through August, equal to the number for all of 2019.
Three additional ones have been announced through October.
Total overall container volumes for this year are down 17.6 percent from 2019.
“Loaded imports declined 16.2 percent, while full exports decreased 13.2 percent,” the NWSA noted.
Auto volumes year to date were 91,874 units, down 30 percent from 2019.
For domestic trade, total year-to-date volumes dropped 6.4 percent. Alaska’s declines partially are the result of cruise line cancellations. Hawaii volumes declined 2 percent.
In August, Matson consolidated and moved operations for Hawaii and Alaska services from Seattle to Tacoma, bringing with it three container cranes.
One of those cranes was involved in a windstorm-related incident Sept. 7 when a barge containing the crane broke free, striking pilings as it went along out of control along the Ruston Way shoreline until it made impact with Katie Downs Waterfront Tavern.
The cranes are owned by SSA Terminals.
Monetary estimates of damages were not available at Friday’s briefing.
“The barge company that transported that crane from Seattle to Tacoma was hired by SSA terminals not by the Northwest Seaport Alliance, so we were not responsible for that operation,” Wolfe said. “And we don’t own that crane, so therefore we have no liability associated with any damage that occurred. Certainly we were concerned about it and engaged with the customer to help manage that situation. So their insurance company is handling that with the affected parties, and the crane is back at the terminal.”
Port officials representing both Seattle and Tacoma at Friday’s briefing continued to express concern over the West Seattle bridge’s future, and to emphasize priority on freight traffic on the lower bridge as the bridge itself awaits repair or replacement.
A decision on repairing or replacing the bridge is set to be made in October.
“We’re looking forward to coming to a decision soon on which direction to go,” said Port of Seattle commission president and NWSA co-chairman Peter Steinbrueck.
He described discussion of traffic mitigation involving electronic passes for the lower bridge prioritized for essential vehicles, freight access and transit. General traffic then would be allowed in late evenings after freight traffic’s peak use during the day.
“The typical traffic volumes that predated COVID have not resumed yet so that would be considerably added pressure on the lower bridge when people start to go back to work in larger numbers,” said Steinbrueck. “So these are no small challenges, and we’re really grateful for (Seattle Department of Transportation’s) careful traffic mitigation management during this interim period.”
Port of Tacoma commission president and NWSA co-chairman John McCarthy noted, “Customers are looking at making long-term commitment to the Pacific Northwest and to the Terminal 5 area. They certainly are aware of and want to be assured that they’re going to, in essence, buy into a facility that’s going to be completely operational for their needs.”
Port of Seattle’s Terminal 5 is at the center of a more than $300 million modernization to accommodate larger vessels used in the shipping industry.
This story was originally published September 19, 2020 at 8:00 AM.
