Tacoma plays to intermodal strength
Projects, services enable port to improve efficiency and diversify its base.
By Eric Kulisch
The Port of Tacoma continues to place heavy emphasis on its intermodal rail capabilities, as demonstrated by several recent initiatives. Almost 60 percent of the import cargo that crossed its wharves last year moved inland by rail.
In September, Union Pacific lifted more than 5,000 containers onto railcars compared to 1,433 lifts in February when the Class I railroad relocated a domestic intermodal service to the port from its yard in Seattle, said Larry St. Clair, Tacoma's director of intermodal marketing.
UP signed a five-year lease with options in October 2008 to use 10 acres at the port's South Intermodal Yard, located a few hundred feet behind a main wharf. UP's goal was to free up space at its Argo intermodal yard for international traffic moving through the Port of Seattle.
In June, the port leased an additional 5.75 acres to UP for a marshalling yard so that shuttle truck drivers could drop off chassis without waiting for a train to do a live load. The ramp is now almost entirely devoted to UP's operation, with additional storage space available if necessary.
'Diversifying our intermodal base has helped cushion us from some of the downturn in intact inland point intermodal boxes,' St. Clair said, referring to Maersk Line's decision to reduce service for straight-through routing of ocean containers to interior destinations. The South Intermodal Yard served the APM Terminal where Maersk was the primary customer until it relocated to the Port of Seattle in March.
Maersk's decision in late 2006 caused the port's intermodal volumes to drop, forcing officials to seek an alternative for its underutilized asset. The port's intermodal team approached UP about moving its domestic business to Tacoma as part of a broader effort to increase its presence in the Pacific Northwest.
Eastbound trains depart five nights per week and the yard receives six westbound trains each week.
UP is scheduled to shift the balance of its domestic intermodal business to Tacoma from Seattle sometime in 2010, Tacoma officials say.
The domestic service is also a boon to about 15 logistics companies on port property that provide transloading services. The companies specialize in removing and sorting cargo from 40-foot international containers and putting it in 53-foot domestic containers or trailers for inland distribution. Although transloading involves extra handling, it can often be cheaper for shippers because they only pay to transport two, instead of three, containers. Ocean carriers like the system because it allows them to retrieve their standard international boxes near the port rather than waiting for them to circulate back from the interior of the country so they can be shipped back overseas for the next load.
Having a service on-site with railcars configured for domestic boxes reduces the cost of trucking the containers to a distant domestic rail ramp and improves efficiency.
'We've increased employment through the addition of the UP business. And we've increased the truck turns,' St. Clair said.
In August, the UP launched a north-south, domestic double-stack intermodal service between Tacoma and Los Angeles along the Interstate 5 corridor. The service was made possible after the railroad cleared tunnels to allow for the passage of stacked container cars.
UP pays the port lift fees to cover the expenses of its contractor, Pacific Rail Service, for loading and unloading containers.
According to terms of agreement, UP guaranteed a minimum of 35,000 intermodal lifts during the first year of operations and 45,000 lifts for the second year, with the minimum going up 5 percent per year thereafter.
To further stimulate intermodal volume, the port is redoubling efforts to attract business for its short-haul rail program between Tacoma and Portland, Ore., said Michael Reilly, director of intermodal business.
The service, operated three times per week each way, is a collaborative effort between the port, short-line provider Tacoma Rail, Union Pacific and Northwest Container Services to provide an alternative to truck transport for export containers, imports and empties. The service is particularly focused on heavyweight cargo, such as agricultural exports.
Northwest Container serves as an intermodal wholesaler that has contracted with UP for overnight service between the two cities, which are located about 150 miles apart. The company, which has facilities in both cities, provides its own railcars. Tacoma Rail coordinates with Northwest Container to bring containers to and from the adjacent UP yard in Fife and the port.
During the first quarter, Reilly's staff worked with Tacoma Rail, which switches cargo between ocean carriers and mainland railroads on 34 miles of track located on port property, and Northwest Container to lower rates in hopes of increasing demand. The effort has had success converting some over-the-road traffic to the rail, Reilly said.
Tacoma Rail is part of city-owned Tacoma Public Utilities.
The port, along with its rail partners and the state of Washington, also invested $1 million this year to install 34 automated switches on 1.5 miles of high-volume rail track within its property that lead to on-dock rail yards. The new equipment eliminates manual switching on all westbound UP and BNSF Railway trains entering the port. Port officials estimate that each train saves about 15 minutes because the conductor doesn't have to get off the train every few hundred feet and manually throw the switches to align the track in the desired direction.
In September, the port began a major grade separation project to raise Lincoln Avenue over four sets of railroad track, to allow trains to operate at higher speeds and prevent traffic backups on the road. Funding for the $53.2 million project includes a $15.4 million grant from the federal stimulus program and an $18 million contribution by the port. The project is to be completed by May 2011.
Last year, the port helped spearhead a $24.5 million regional effort to improve freight mobility by raising another major street above the railroad tracks. The grade separation and rail realignment allows trains that previously crept through the industrial Tideflats to move out at 30 mph.