Northwest rival Port of Seattle looks to expand in response to rising competition on West Coast

Seattle is about to respond to the challenges of British Columbia's ports,
announcing an extensive expansion of their Terminal Five facility

Servicing the flow of goods between North America and Asia is proving to be one of the most competitive battlefronts on the West Coast and as the Port of Prince Rupert continues to rattle off increased levels of shipments, some of the port's competitors are taking notice and taking action.

The Port of Seattle is the latest to make some moves to increase capacity and competitiveness in the global container shipping market, announcing plans for a 300 million dollar infrastructure investment at its Terminal Five location.

Both Prince Rupert and Vancouver were featured attractions as part of the announcement from the Northwest Seaport Alliance, which noted the growth of both facilities over the course of the last decade, with the Seattle based organization making note of the investment from the Canadian Federal government into both ports.

Competition for the trans-Pacific market among the North American West Coast ports has become particularly fierce over the last few years, as shipping lines have consolidated operations into larger vessels with fewer port calls. The British Columbia ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert have grown substantially over the last decade, as the Canadian government directly invests in port infrastructure, while the U.S. government does not.

The focus for that port expansion, expected to be complete by 2021, will be to create the facilities to accept the new ultra-large container ships which are taking to the Trans Pacific routes.

Spending on the expansion will be directed towards new cranes and yard handling equipment, as well as the work required to upgrade and strengthen the existing docks, along with extensive paving on the apron area.

As well, the expansion plan includes updating storm water treatment systems and installing “shore power” infrastructure, which allows a vessel to plug into electricity while at berth, substantially reducing air emissions.

The plan also includes technology improvements to manage truck flow around the terminal and a railroad “quiet zone” to reduce noise impacts for the surrounding community.

A number of those new additions for the Seattle facility might seem like familiar elements for those that have been following the infrastructure development that has gone into the Prince Rupert Fairview Terminal over the last ten years.

The Port of Prince Rupert and DP World have their own plans for expansion of the Fairview facility, with the development of a private road between the port facility and Ridley Island the next step in a larger program of development on the Prince Rupert harbour footprint.

The Port of Vancouver isn't sitting by either, yesterday CN announced  that it would be double-tracking a four-kilometre section of rail that links expanding import and export terminals on the south shore of the Burrard Inlet to the national rail network.

Some further background on the Seattle plans can be explored here, while a wider overview of the Northwest Seaport Alliance is available here.

The Seattle Times offered up a pair of items that noted the nature of the Canadian competition and the importance of the expansion to the Washington State economy and how it will help to reaffirm Seattle's position in the global shipping industry.

Port Finds partner for major upgrade that would bring huge next-generation cargo ships to Terminal
Terminal 5 upgrade is good fore Seattle and the State

For more items of interest related to Port of Prince Rupert developments see our archive page here.

To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.