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Located on Commencement Bay – a natural, deep-water harbor in Southern Puget Sound – the Port is an independent municipal corporation that operates under state-enabling legislation. The Port has 2,400 acres (972 hectares) that are used for shipping terminal activity and warehouse, distributing, and manufacturing.

Outstanding intermodal operations, connections to two transcontinental railroads and easy access to Interstate 5 and SR 167 make the Port an ideal location for warehouse and distribution activities. More than 70 percent of the containers imported through the port move by rail to markets in the Midwest and East Coast. The port is served by the BNSF Railway and Union Pacific railroads. Shortline rail service is provided by Tacoma Rail, which is owned by the City of Tacoma.


HISTORY


The Port of Tacoma was created by a vote of Pierce County citizens on November 5, 1918. The Port operates today as an independent municipal corporation that operates under state-enabling legislation.

The Port started out on 240 acres of land, and its first ship call was the ''Edmore'' at Slip 1 in 1921. Maritime commerce in Tacoma dates back to 1853, and prior to the establishment of the Port of Tacoma, much of Tacoma's shipping activity took place on private docks along Ruston Way and the mouth of the Thea Foss Waterway which opens into Commencement Bay and the larger Puget Sound .

Today, the Port - as a publicly-owned entity - has grown to be the sixth-largest container port in the United States. Containers hold everything from computers and lawn furniture to apples and frozen meat. China is the port's largest trading partner. The port plays a large International Trade role in the Pacific Northwest , and is a municipal Corporation .

In response to the announcement in the spring of 2007 that the Port would ship US Army Stryker vehicles, the Port of Tacoma was the site of multiple protests between anti-war activists and the Tacoma police. On at least one occasion, the police fired tear gas into a crowd of nonviolent but rowdy protestors.

Today, the port owns more than 2,400 acres (972 hectares) of land that are used for shipping terminal activity, warehousing, distributing, and manufacturing.


PORT OF TACOMA FACTS


2006 Cargo and Trade Statistics

  • Total TEU’s: 2.07 million

  • Intermodal Lifts: 591,407

  • Total Tonnage: 18.9 million short tons

  • Auto units: 166,087

  • Grain: 6.06 million short tons

  • Breakbulk Cargo: 129,259 short tons

  • Vessel Calls: 1,150



2006 Top Trading Partners (''in value of two-way trade'')

  • China/Hong Kong - $11.98 billion

  • Japan - $11.25 billion

  • Taiwan- $2.79 billion

  • South Korea - $2.61 billion

  • Malaysia - $640 million

  • Thailand - $590 million

  • Indonesia - $374 million

  • Philippines - $313 million

  • Vietnam - $255 million

  • Canada - $251 million


2006 Top Export Commodities

  • Grains - $1.19 billion

  • Vehicles/Auto Parts - $0.33 billion

  • Machinery - $0.32 billion

  • Meat - $0.26 billion

  • Preserved Foods - $0.24 billion



2006 Top 5 Import Commodities

  • Machinery - $9.75 billion

  • Vehicles/Auto Parts - $4.43 billion

  • Toys/Sports Equip. - $1.35 billion

  • Furniture - $1.30 billion

  • Footwear - $1.26 billion



2006 - Value of Trade

  • Value of Foreign Trade: $31.9 billion

  • Value of Domestic Trade: $3.5 billion

  • Port Facilites and Infrastructure



Waterways and Depth

  • The Port’s two primary waterways – the Blair and Sitcum – are both -51 feet MLLW.

  • Port waterways do not require maintenance dredging.

  • Commencement Bay is a natural, deep-water harbor averaging a depth of 600 feet (183 meters).



Container Terminals

  • APM Terminals (Maerks Line and Horizon Lines)

  • Husky Terminal ("K" Line)

  • Olympic Container Terminal (Yang Ming Line)

  • Pierce County Terminal (Evergreen Marine)

  • TOTE Terminal (Totem Ocean Trailer Express)

  • Washington United Terminals (Hyundai Merchant Marine)



Non-Containerized Terminals

  • The Port of Tacoma operates a wide variety of non-containerized cargo facilities, including Terminal 7 (breakbulk), the Marshall Avenue Auto Facility and the Cargill Grain Terminal.



Intermodal Facilities

  • North Intermodal Yard

  • Hyundai Intermodal Yard

  • Pierce County Intermodal Yard

  • South Intermodal Yard



Railroads

  • BNSF Railway

  • Union Pacific Railroad

  • Tacoma Rail (beltline service)



Nearby Highways and Freeways

  • Interstate 5

  • Interstate 90

  • SR 509

  • SR 167

  • SR 99

  • SR 18




TRIVIA


  • Port activities account for more than 43,000 jobs in Pierce County, and 113,000 jobs in Washington state.

  • In 2006, the Port of Tacoma handled 2.1 million TEUs. Of its international import container volume, more than 70 percent heads to major U.S. markets by rail direct from Port terminals, significantly decreasing truck drays on public roadways. One train is equivalent to 250-300 trucks that are not on the road.

  • There are more than 70 public ports in the state of Washington.

  • The port is known as the "Gateway to Alaska," handling more than 70 percent of all waterborne commerce moving from the Lower 48 to Alaska.

  • In the early 1980s, several areas of Commencement Bay were identified as federal Superfund sites, due to historic contamination from the turn of the 20th Century. Since the early 1980s, the Port, the City of Tacoma, Simpson Tacoma Kraft and others have worked together to clean and restore these sites. Today, many of the original Commencement Bay Superfund sites have been de-listed.

  • Over tha last 20 years, the Port has invested more than $162 million in projects designed to improve the envirnoment in and around Commecement Bay.




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