As noted in our rwport last night about a visit to the West Seattle Bridge by U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg, their travels included a stop at under-construction Terminal 5. There, port and maritime reps touted their environmental efforts – from sea-noise reduction to shore power to trucking electrification – and pitched for more federal funding to help them make more progress. As a reminder of what’s at stake, Seattle Port Commissioner Fred Felleman presented Trottenberg with a framed orca photo of his:

(We talked with Felleman earlier this summer about orcas and T-5.) At right in the photo above is Edward DeNike of SSA Marine, the tenant for Terminal 5’s first modernized berth and operator of many other terminals. His remarks included a mention of what’s the most striking feature of T-5 right now:

DeNike said T-5 is now a holding zone for more than 8,000 containers. That’s up from the 6,000 we reported earlier this month. They’ve been trucked over from Terminals 30 and 18, which are already maxed out. Once T-5’s first berth opens early next year, they’re hoping it’ll take some of the pressure off. After the briefing, we asked DeNike about the status of a decision on which shipping line(s) will be first to use T-5. He said they’re talking with a few now and should have a decision within about a month.