(January 2015 photo of Terminal 5 by Long Bach Nguyen)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Just one week after a new promise that a tenant for Terminal 5 would be announced “soon” – we know who’s moving in.

And that news opens the door for the modernization project to begin; the city has just granted the permits.

A briefing is set to start at 11:30 am at the Northwest Seaport Alliance‘s managing-members’ (Seattle and Tacoma port commissioners) meeting at Sea-Tac Airport – you can watch the stream here.

First, the toplines. The last major tenant at Terminal 5, Westwood, moved out in 2014. The port and the NWSA have been planning the modernization project and seeking a tenant. From the announcement that’s being made today:

… The investments in Terminal 5 will be coordinated with the proposed new tenant, Stevedoring Services of America Terminals (SSAT) and Terminal International Limited (TIL Group). The proposal calls for a new 32-year lease with these two terminal operators, which together are in partnership with several of the world’s largest ocean carriers.

To support the Phase I construction schedule for Terminal 5 modernization, estimated to begin this Spring and be completed by 2021, the Port Commissioners will be considering a realignment of marine cargo in the Seattle Harbor. Specifically:

Matson’s Hawaii service moves from T-30 to the South berth of T-5 in Spring 2019.

International marine cargo would be re-assigned to the Terminals 18 & 5, beginning with the current customer at T-46, TTI, moving to T-18.

This presents the opportunity to use Terminal 46 for other project and break-bulk cargo, and relocating Seattle-based Foss Maritime, to this terminal. The Port of Seattle Commission is also studying using approximately 29 acres of the 86-acre Terminal 46 could be accommodate a cruise berth to meet the demand for Alaskan cruise industry, which is a growing business in Seattle. …

Foss has been an interim tenant at T-5.

Port commissioners are expected to take final action on the newly unveiled plan on February 26th.

1ST ADD: We talked this morning with Seattle Port Commissioner Fred Felleman, in advance of the briefing/meeting. First, what’s been a big issue for many West Seattleites looking ahead to the modernization project: No, the deal does not require ships to use shore power while berthed at T-5. But it will be shore-power capable, and he contends that will be attractive to shippers for financial as well as environmental reasons, since electricity here is relatively cheap.

He also notes that the new plan basically consolidates many freight operations at the two on-dock-rail-equipped terminals, 5 and 18 (which is on Harbor Island), which makes a dent in truck traffic. The port’s requirement for newer, cleaner trucks is already in place. And Felleman noted another port program that is making it possible for trucks to get in and out more efficiently, an economic benefit to drivers as well as an efficiency enhancement regarding traffic. And the T-5 project will come with a railroad “quiet zone,” as previously reported.

On another environmental point – Felleman notes that, with a background as a whale biologist, he shares the newly intensified concern about shipping noise and its effect on marine life including the Southern Resident Killer Whales. He is hopeful that fewer – though larger – ships will have less of a noise impact, though he acknowledges that research hasn’t verified that yet.

While the new T-5 tenants have partnerships with shipping alliances that already call in local ports, Felleman says they expect there will be a net increase in jobs.

2ND ADD, BRIEFING UPDATES, STARTING AT 12:24 PM: We are now at the NWSA meeting briefing on this, which is happening in the conference center at Sea-Tac. (Looks like the feed is up and running here.) The first slide deck they’re going through is here, and it begins with toplines from the report unveiled last week at T-18, regarding regional cargo-shipping economic impact.

Preceding this, it was reiterated that final action on this is three weeks away and the commissioners want to hear from the public. NW Seaport Alliance CEO John Wolfe called this “an exciting day” as they unveil the T-5 details, and noted that along with the port’s $340 million capital investment, there are two phases of private-sector investment totaling $250 million, “overall investment of half a billion dollars.”

Speaking of money:

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