Driven to fight the arena
When an evening Mariners game is scheduled in the Sodo area, MacMillan-Piper Inc. Logistics Manager Tony Barter stops sending trucks through Sodo to Seattle's Terminal 46 by 2:30 p.m., because he knows traffic will get too heavy.
"It becomes a mess around 3 p.m. on any game day," said Barter, who manages traffic flow for one of the largest container-loading operations in the state, with four warehouse and loading facilities around the industrial area south of downtown.
Barter is worried the basketball arena proposed just three blocks west of his company's headquarters could make his problems worse.
He can't escape the fact that for all the evolution in today's global commerce, big, noisy trucks play a key role in getting cargo through Seattle. Trucks carry much of the freight from the Port of Seattle docks to their next destination, whether a warehouse or a rail yard.
Each day, trucks make 7,000 trips to and from the port's marine terminals. This would rise to more than 11,000 truck trips, requiring evening and weekend terminal hours, if cargo volume were to rise to the level port planners envision in 25 years.
Whether the port meets its growth goals could hinge in part on whether the arena is built, or if it is, whether sufficient road improvements are made to enable trucks to co-exist with game-goers' traffic.
Understanding the issue requires a visit to the epicenter of port trucking in what's called the East Waterway - an area within walking distance of downtown Seattle skyscapers. Along this waterway, global commerce takes place within blocks of Safeco and CenturyLink fields and the proposed National Basketball Association arena.
Korea's Hanjin Container Line, China Ocean Shipping Co. and China Shipping Container Lines operate here, at Terminals 46, 30 and 25. Trucks carry much of their cargo to the nearby Seattle International Gateway, the container-loading facility operated by BNSF Railway Co. Often called the "SIG Yard," Seattle International Gateway handles about 200,000 containers a year, or 575 a day.
The Seattle International Gateway is less than a mile away from terminals 46 and 30. MacMillan-Piper's Barter, and his boss John Odland, say the trip can be slowed by the snarl of people trying to get to evening games, often tangling with other drivers trying to leave the city after work.
"Those are the terminals that are the most critical. The more you congest them, the less efficient you are, and the harder it is for the Port of Seattle to sell them as a good container terminal," said Odland, vice president of MacMillan-Piper who also serves on the board of the Manufacturing Industrial Council of Seattle. "You have to be able to move them (containers) efficiently, because everyone is competing for the same containers."
The Port of Seattle's other two large terminals, T-5 and T-18, are served by on-dock rail as well as trucks, which reduces but doesn't eliminate their dependence on trucks to move containers to the Seattle International Gateway and the Union Pacific's Argo yard, about two miles south.
Hanjin, the terminal closest to Safeco Field and recent viaduct-related construction, already has suffered from trucks being unable to get to the terminal on time, said Taehoon Kim, Hanjin's regional manager for the Pacific Northwest.
And Hanjin executives as far away as Seoul are considering the issue of Seattle congestion, and the potential added traffic from the arena, as they decide whether or not Hanjin will renew its lease at Terminal 46. That decision is due by the end of the year.
"It could be one of several factors that will influence our decisions," Kim said, adding that his "private opinion" is that the proposed arena "will lead to more congestion."
Also focused on the Hanjin decision is Bari Bookout, director of commercial strategy for the Port of Seattle Seaport Division.
"By the end of this year, they have to tell us what they're planning to do," she said of Hanjin. "(The arena) is certainly an issue in their minds, a very large decision-making issue. It could very well play into their decision about whether to stay here or not."
City and county officials backing the arena plan recently sent the port a list of transportation fixes, but Port CEO Tay Yoshitani has dismissed the proposals as primarily projects that were already planned anyway, and weren't designed to address the issues raised by the arena.
Geri Pool, regional transportation manager for the Port of Seattle, contends the port doesn't yet have the necessary data about potential traffic impacts to determine what overpasses or other added infrastructure could enable cargo to move unimpeded if the arena is built. She added that the port wants time to get the research done first, before the arena is given a green light.
Significant impacts from stadium traffic and related development could make the Port of Seattle lose momentum and not reach its growth goals, said Transystems Corp. senior consultant Bill Kruse, a San Francisco-based expert in maritime transportation.
"Anything like that, is really, really dangerous," he said about the threat of added congestion. "If they're going to continue to jeopardize existing customers with conditions like that, I'd say, "No way. They're headed for decline, not healthy growth.' "
Kruse added that this is because congested cargo movements can cause cost-conscious owners of freight and operators of ships to look elsewhere for an entry port.
"In general, ports have really got to watch it in terms of anything that compromises any perceived competitive advantage, and carriers are very footloose and fancy free," Kruse said. "They can change terminals and it's just increasingly competitive, not just in the U.S. but across the board in Canada."
About 70 percent of Seattle's import cargo moves on to Midwest distribution centers. Some of that cargo could presumably be shifted to other routes if shipping lines were to deem Seattle less efficient.
And imports are not the only concern. Much of the export traffic through the Port of Seattle is agricultural products, especially hay, brought from Eastern Washington by truck. Those trucks generally come in on Interstate 90, wind around Safeco Field on the ramps built as part of the $84 million State Route 519 project, then head east along the south edge of Safeco Field on Edgar Martinez Way, also called Atlantic Street, to the waterfront terminals.
Bookout, of the Port of Seattle, points out that the port is vulnerable to losing customers. The Grand Alliance consortium of ocean carriers has moved from Seattle to Tacoma, with the first ship arriving there in early July.
"We're competing with our neighbor down the road (Tacoma)," Bookout said. "If it gets too difficult or too expensive, they (ocean carriers) are going to look at places that work better."
MacMillan-Piper's Odland said creeping gentrification could change the waterfront.
"The bigger picture is, it's going to put more pressure on tenants at Terminal 46 and 30," said Odland about the proposed arena. "If they (Hanjin) leave the Port of Seattle, then there will be significant pressure for the end of the East Waterway as a maritime seaport."
This isn't as far-fetched as it might sound. Back in 2004, developer Frank Stagen pushed a plan that would have built more than 4,000 condominiums on Terminal 46, a project that never got built but showed the area's potential for going in a new direction.
For more local business news and information, visit www.pugetsoundbusinessjournal.com.
"It becomes a mess around 3 p.m. on any game day," said Barter, who manages traffic flow for one of the largest container-loading operations in the state, with four warehouse and loading facilities around the industrial area south of downtown.
Barter is worried the basketball arena proposed just three blocks west of his company's headquarters could make his problems worse.
He can't escape the fact that for all the evolution in today's global commerce, big, noisy trucks play a key role in getting cargo through Seattle. Trucks carry much of the freight from the Port of Seattle docks to their next destination, whether a warehouse or a rail yard.
Each day, trucks make 7,000 trips to and from the port's marine terminals. This would rise to more than 11,000 truck trips, requiring evening and weekend terminal hours, if cargo volume were to rise to the level port planners envision in 25 years.
Whether the port meets its growth goals could hinge in part on whether the arena is built, or if it is, whether sufficient road improvements are made to enable trucks to co-exist with game-goers' traffic.
Understanding the issue requires a visit to the epicenter of port trucking in what's called the East Waterway - an area within walking distance of downtown Seattle skyscapers. Along this waterway, global commerce takes place within blocks of Safeco and CenturyLink fields and the proposed National Basketball Association arena.
Korea's Hanjin Container Line, China Ocean Shipping Co. and China Shipping Container Lines operate here, at Terminals 46, 30 and 25. Trucks carry much of their cargo to the nearby Seattle International Gateway, the container-loading facility operated by BNSF Railway Co. Often called the "SIG Yard," Seattle International Gateway handles about 200,000 containers a year, or 575 a day.
The Seattle International Gateway is less than a mile away from terminals 46 and 30. MacMillan-Piper's Barter, and his boss John Odland, say the trip can be slowed by the snarl of people trying to get to evening games, often tangling with other drivers trying to leave the city after work.
"Those are the terminals that are the most critical. The more you congest them, the less efficient you are, and the harder it is for the Port of Seattle to sell them as a good container terminal," said Odland, vice president of MacMillan-Piper who also serves on the board of the Manufacturing Industrial Council of Seattle. "You have to be able to move them (containers) efficiently, because everyone is competing for the same containers."
The Port of Seattle's other two large terminals, T-5 and T-18, are served by on-dock rail as well as trucks, which reduces but doesn't eliminate their dependence on trucks to move containers to the Seattle International Gateway and the Union Pacific's Argo yard, about two miles south.
Hanjin, the terminal closest to Safeco Field and recent viaduct-related construction, already has suffered from trucks being unable to get to the terminal on time, said Taehoon Kim, Hanjin's regional manager for the Pacific Northwest.
And Hanjin executives as far away as Seoul are considering the issue of Seattle congestion, and the potential added traffic from the arena, as they decide whether or not Hanjin will renew its lease at Terminal 46. That decision is due by the end of the year.
"It could be one of several factors that will influence our decisions," Kim said, adding that his "private opinion" is that the proposed arena "will lead to more congestion."
Also focused on the Hanjin decision is Bari Bookout, director of commercial strategy for the Port of Seattle Seaport Division.
"By the end of this year, they have to tell us what they're planning to do," she said of Hanjin. "(The arena) is certainly an issue in their minds, a very large decision-making issue. It could very well play into their decision about whether to stay here or not."
City and county officials backing the arena plan recently sent the port a list of transportation fixes, but Port CEO Tay Yoshitani has dismissed the proposals as primarily projects that were already planned anyway, and weren't designed to address the issues raised by the arena.
Geri Pool, regional transportation manager for the Port of Seattle, contends the port doesn't yet have the necessary data about potential traffic impacts to determine what overpasses or other added infrastructure could enable cargo to move unimpeded if the arena is built. She added that the port wants time to get the research done first, before the arena is given a green light.
Significant impacts from stadium traffic and related development could make the Port of Seattle lose momentum and not reach its growth goals, said Transystems Corp. senior consultant Bill Kruse, a San Francisco-based expert in maritime transportation.
"Anything like that, is really, really dangerous," he said about the threat of added congestion. "If they're going to continue to jeopardize existing customers with conditions like that, I'd say, "No way. They're headed for decline, not healthy growth.' "
Kruse added that this is because congested cargo movements can cause cost-conscious owners of freight and operators of ships to look elsewhere for an entry port.
"In general, ports have really got to watch it in terms of anything that compromises any perceived competitive advantage, and carriers are very footloose and fancy free," Kruse said. "They can change terminals and it's just increasingly competitive, not just in the U.S. but across the board in Canada."
About 70 percent of Seattle's import cargo moves on to Midwest distribution centers. Some of that cargo could presumably be shifted to other routes if shipping lines were to deem Seattle less efficient.
And imports are not the only concern. Much of the export traffic through the Port of Seattle is agricultural products, especially hay, brought from Eastern Washington by truck. Those trucks generally come in on Interstate 90, wind around Safeco Field on the ramps built as part of the $84 million State Route 519 project, then head east along the south edge of Safeco Field on Edgar Martinez Way, also called Atlantic Street, to the waterfront terminals.
Bookout, of the Port of Seattle, points out that the port is vulnerable to losing customers. The Grand Alliance consortium of ocean carriers has moved from Seattle to Tacoma, with the first ship arriving there in early July.
"We're competing with our neighbor down the road (Tacoma)," Bookout said. "If it gets too difficult or too expensive, they (ocean carriers) are going to look at places that work better."
MacMillan-Piper's Odland said creeping gentrification could change the waterfront.
"The bigger picture is, it's going to put more pressure on tenants at Terminal 46 and 30," said Odland about the proposed arena. "If they (Hanjin) leave the Port of Seattle, then there will be significant pressure for the end of the East Waterway as a maritime seaport."
This isn't as far-fetched as it might sound. Back in 2004, developer Frank Stagen pushed a plan that would have built more than 4,000 condominiums on Terminal 46, a project that never got built but showed the area's potential for going in a new direction.
For more local business news and information, visit www.pugetsoundbusinessjournal.com.
At 7,000 to 11,000 trucks a day, maybe an additional toll on those trucks could fund it's own West Seattle Bridge that could run the trucks from the port straight to I-5? Get them off the surface streets and allow for development of the area beyond just the Ports needs. Twenty years at a dollar a truck would fund $75 Million.......