World Trade - March 2009 - (Page 24) WEST COAST PORTS Port of Prince Rupert Canada’s Port of Prince Rupert has been one of the exceptions in box traffic, having seen volumes up sharply at the new Fairview Terminal that coincided with the launch of COSCO’s Asia eastbound service at the port. Several key infrastructure projects will help the Port of Seattle facilitate the increase in cargo when volumes return to healthier numbers. The SR 519 project, which is scheduled for completion in late 2010 or early 2011, will eliminate at-grade rail crossings, increase freight capacity on Atlantic Street, and improve access between the port’s marine terminals and interstates 5 and 90. The East Marginal Way grade separation project, with an estimated completion date of mid-2010, will separate road and rail traffic south of the port’s cargo terminals and improve access to the warehouse district in south Seattle and the Kent Valley, where more than half of all of the warehouse and distribution space in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties is located, according to Charlie Sheldon, Seaport Managing Director, Port of Seattle. Earlier this year, BNSF announced a new express international container service from the ports of Seattle and Tacoma to the railroad’s intermodal facilities in Memphis, Tennessee and BNSF’s Logistics Park-Chicago in Illinois. “This express service can cut down transit time by almost a full day, making it one of the fastest intermodal cargo services from the Pacific Northwest to Chicago and Memphis,” stated Steve Branscum, BNSF’s group vice president, Consumer Products Marketing. “The new express service not only relies on the speed of the train and the route followed, but also the ability of the ports and the intermodal hubs to provide efficient and reliable service.” The Port of Seattle’s Charlie Sheldon added, “This MARCH 2009 enhanced express service from BNSF makes the Pacific Northwest gateway even more competitive by reducing transit times to hubs in Chicago and Memphis. The Port of Seattle and the Port of Tacoma have the capacity to handle more cargo now. There’s never been a better time to route cargo through the [Pacific Northwest].” As for the Port of Tacoma, while containerized freight fell in 2008, the port got some good news in December when it was announced that Mitsubishi Motors would start exporting vehicles to Asia from the port. The carmaker has been importing vehicles through the port since 1982. Initially, Mitsubishi’s exports will be relatively small—just under 1,000 units—but any business is better than none in the current economic climate. Another promising piece of business for the Port of Tacoma is the expansion of its Container Freight Service (CFS) operations. “A growing trend is to de-van at ports of entry and transload into domestic boxes,” said Susan Becklund, the port’s Director of Operational Services, in an interview. “This saves the shipper time and expense by avoiding the cost of repositioning empty containers from the ultimate point of destination. Depending on cargo, a CFS transload may be the right choice,” she said. The latest statistics (from January) for the Port of Portland tell a similar story when it comes to containerized freight. For the month, box shipments were off about 28 percent compared to the same month last year. Specifically, import containers declined 32.6 percent to 6,677 TEUs and export containers decreased 23.8 percent to 24 WORLD TRADE
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