Tacoma port to build container terminal for NYK
The port of Tacoma in Washington state on the US Northwest coast has announced the construction of a $300 million container terminal which will be leased to wholly-owned NYK Line (Nippon Yusen Kaisha) subsidiary Yusen Terminal Tacoma Inc (YTTI).
The new terminal, the most expensive the port has ever built, will be on the industrial east side of Tacoma's Blair Waterway.
Designed to handle between 1.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) and 1.8 million TEUs per year, the terminal is scheduled to open in 2012.
Container handling facilities will include a 24 acre inter-modal rail yard and 731.5 metre (m) berth on the 15.5 m deep Blair Waterway and eight super post-Panamax cranes.
“For many years we've considered it a strategic imperative to have a terminal in the Pacific Northwest,” said Peter Keller, president of NYK Line North America. “Tacoma has that ability.”
NYK Line's ships currently call at SSA Marine's port of Seattle but NYK does not have its own terminal there.
Tacoma port executive director Timothy Farrell said he didn't see NYK Line's move to Tacoma as stealing business from Seattle, rather as keeping a company in the US Northwest.
“Seattle didn't have land to offer for a terminal and we wouldn't want them to move to Vancouver,” he said.
NYK Line's board of directors approved the plan on Friday in Japan and the Port of Tacoma Commission was to consider the final lease later in the day.
Like the port of Tacoma, NYK Line focuses on moving most of its containers via rail instead of by truck.
“Every three-locomotive train that leaves the port area represents 250 to 300 trucks that are not on our roads, reducing roadway congestion and diesel emissions,” said Farrell.
“NYK Line shares the port of Tacoma's environmental values. That commitment is reflected not only in the lease agreement, it will also play a key role in the design and operation of the terminal,” he added.
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| The new terminal can handle up to 1.8 million TEUs per year |
Designed to handle between 1.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) and 1.8 million TEUs per year, the terminal is scheduled to open in 2012.
Container handling facilities will include a 24 acre inter-modal rail yard and 731.5 metre (m) berth on the 15.5 m deep Blair Waterway and eight super post-Panamax cranes.
“For many years we've considered it a strategic imperative to have a terminal in the Pacific Northwest,” said Peter Keller, president of NYK Line North America. “Tacoma has that ability.”
NYK Line's ships currently call at SSA Marine's port of Seattle but NYK does not have its own terminal there.
Tacoma port executive director Timothy Farrell said he didn't see NYK Line's move to Tacoma as stealing business from Seattle, rather as keeping a company in the US Northwest.
“Seattle didn't have land to offer for a terminal and we wouldn't want them to move to Vancouver,” he said.
NYK Line's board of directors approved the plan on Friday in Japan and the Port of Tacoma Commission was to consider the final lease later in the day.
Like the port of Tacoma, NYK Line focuses on moving most of its containers via rail instead of by truck.
“Every three-locomotive train that leaves the port area represents 250 to 300 trucks that are not on our roads, reducing roadway congestion and diesel emissions,” said Farrell.
“NYK Line shares the port of Tacoma's environmental values. That commitment is reflected not only in the lease agreement, it will also play a key role in the design and operation of the terminal,” he added.
Cowan Thant Zin | Fri Jul 27 04:39 GMT 2007