The News Tribune Business Team will keep you updated on what's happening in the South Sound and beyond. Check here for news about economic development, aerospace, shopping and much more.
Talk to us
Got something to say? Here's the place to say it. We welcome your comments on what's going on in business in the South Sound that we should be discussing, reporting or analyzing here on our blog or in the pages of The News Tribune.
Contributors
Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.
C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.
John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.
Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.
- All
- Aerospace (1477)
- Banking (179)
- Commercial Real Estate (145)
- Consumer Alert (28)
- Downtown Tacoma (225)
- Economic Development (273)
- Employment/Workplace (283)
- Food (32)
- General (1920)
- Labor (178)
- Port and trade (275)
- Residential Real Estate (77)
- Restaurants (145)
- Retail (63)
- Shopping (320)
- Technology (133)
- Tourism (742)
- Your view (7)
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| << < | > >> | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 | |||||
- October 2009 (59)
- September 2009 (83)
- August 2009 (109)
- July 2009 (98)
- June 2009 (107)
- May 2009 (108)
- April 2009 (124)
- March 2009 (100)
- February 2009 (95)
- January 2009 (112)
- December 2008 (100)
- November 2008 (101)
- More...
XML Feeds- artman77
- MrSinister
- Guest Users: 294
The Cunningham Report has an interesting article today regarding remarks made by Seattle-based SSA President Ed DeNike at last week's Northwest Intermodal Conference.
SSA Containers President Ed DeNike said last week that the Pacific Northwest ports have an opportunity to expand their business in Interior Point Intermodal cargo if "they don't blow it." That's why his company is spending "a lot of money to build a grand terminal at the Port of Tacoma," according to the report.
SSA has partnered with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians to build a container terminal on the east side of the Blair Waterway.
DeNike told folks attending the Northwest Intermodal Conference in Tacoma that his company's customers are looking for ways to avoid calling at West Coast ports, whether it's by going through the Panama Canal or the Suez Canal, the Cunningham Report says.
DeNike noted the increasing cost of moving cargo through Southern California and various pending fees per container.
He also made mention of needing to increase the labor productivity in Tacoma, The Cunningham Report says.
Here's the rest of the story:
Customers are also demanding better productivity, he said. His company is having to guarantee a minimum number of lifts per hour in order to get shipping lines to commit to a contract. The penalty for coming up short is the loss of the contract, he said.
DeNike said he expects SSA to sign an agreement with a major Asian shipping line next month for its terminal at the Port of Seattle. That 20-year deal will include a productivity guarantee, he said.
In the Port of Tacoma, where dockworkers take breaks onboard ships, that becomes a problem. In fact, SSA Marine - which has partnered with the Puyallup Indians tribe to build a private terminal at the port - has talked to union leaders about the need to speed up the process, he said.
Lifts at container terminals average about 30 to 32 per hour at the Port of Long Beach, 35 to 37 at the Port of Oakland, 30 to 31 at the Port of Seattle, 25 to 27 at the Port of Portland, and 25 to 26 at the Port of Tacoma, he said.
Ports America Group VP Walter Romanowski agreed that there is a long-term opportunity for the Pacific Northwest Ports. He noted that it takes six years to get through the environmental process in Southern California and that East Coast and Gulf Coast ports are using the opportunity to expand their business.
Port of Seattle Seaport Director Charlie Sheldon said the Southern California ports and the Pacific Northwest ports operate in different economic environments. He cited the 2005 elasticity study done for the Southern California Association of Governments by Rob Leachman of UC Berkeley.
The Leachman study found that Southern California could charge up to a $200 fee per 40-foot container without losing significant business as long as the money was spent to help smooth out the flow of cargo. Sheldon said they hired Leachman to do a similar study for the Pacific Northwest. He found that a $60 per 40-foot container fee would result in a 30 percent loss of cargo.
