(Terminal 5 and vicinity, photographed in July by Long Bach Nguyen)
Along with the construction under way at West Seattle’s Terminal 5, the photo shows stacks and stacks of shipping containers. At today’s meeting of the Northwest Seaport Alliance managing members – the port commissioners of Seattle and Tacoma – alliance CEO John Wolfe estimated 6,000 containers are currently there. That’s because of the global shipping logjam, which in turn is why you see vessels at anchor in Elliott Bay and off Manchester, waiting to dock in Seattle or Tacoma. Wolfe said the current volume is “overwhelm(ing) … most of our terminals are operating at full capacity”; they’re hoping the opening of the first modernized Terminal 5 cargo berth in January will take some of the pressure off. According to the newest set of NWSA stats, imports are where the growth is, while exports are currently declining.
| 7 COMMENTS