(November photo by Stephen King)

A month and a half ago, two new cargo cranes arrived at Terminal 5 in West Seattle, one of the last major events before ships can start calling at the new south berth. We hadn’t noticed any additions on the schedule that’s regularly published by the Northwest Seaport Alliance, so we asked for a status update. NWSA spokesperson Melanie Stambaugh replied, “The construction team is in the final stages of preparing the terminal to open and we expect vessels to begin calling the south berth within the next month or so.” Exactly two years have now passed since the start of cargo calls at T-5’s north berth, modernized in the first phase of the half-billion-dollar modernization program. The same tenant is operating both berths, SSA. The primary line calling at the north berth has been MSC; we have an inquiry out about which line(s) are expected at the south berth.