The Port of Tacoma is Ready for the Intermodal Future

The Port of Tacoma has been investing in the development of its infrastructure since the 1980s, when it first moved towards becoming an intermodal hub. In the intervening decades, much of that infrastructure has needed remodeling and renovation, never more so than at the present, as there is a global effort to develop a worldwide intermodal network. In order to keep pace with these global developments, the Port of Tacoma has initiated a low key program of updates and renovations of its facilities, intended to make it a competitive hub for years to come. The core of these renovations revolves around the increasing sizes of the container ships that regularly travel the seaways. Whereas the ships that visited the port thirty years ago were usually 16 containers wide, modern freighters are commonly 24 containers wide. This has necessitated the installation of larger container cranes, for loading and unloading the larger ships that will be visiting the port in the years to come. At the same time, they are continuing to develop their sister facilities at Sitcum Waterway that handles break bulk cargo, which has increased by 68% in the past year, outstripping the expectations for growth in the next decade. These strategies are already beginning to show results, with the port being chosen over Seattle by the Grand Alliance shipping consortium as its home in Puget Sound. The immediate result of this has been a big increase in the volumes of containers being handled in Tacoma now. April figures show that 617,000 containers went through the port, an increase of almost one third on the numbers for April 2012. Even so, last year was the best year for the port since 2008, with a total of 1.7 million containers being handled, an increase of 16% over 2011. Perhaps the most obvious indication in this phenomenal growth in the port was the recent visit of the ZIM Djibouti, a 1,145 foot long vessel that has a capacity of 10,000 containers. This is the largest ship ever to have visited the Port of Tacoma, and is really just the trailblazer for the fleet that is sure to follow. The visit of the ZIM Djibouti is an indication of the progress that the Port of Tacoma has made towards becoming a premier intermodal hub on the Pacific Coast. The Chief Executive Officer of Port of Tacoma, John Wolf, has said; “Ships continue to get larger, and we are ready for them” ensuring that Tacoma will continue to develop the facilities that it needs to remain relevant to 21st Century shipping.