Expansion, improvements underway at ports serving ag shippers

Compiled by Bruce Abbe, strategic adviser for trade and transportation

Several ports serving agricultural exporters, including port-members of the Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA), have recently been in the news for expansion and throughput improvements underway, including some with projects receiving federal grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD).

Northwest Seaport Alliance
The Northwest Seaport Alliance is implementing a growth strategy to be able to provide more capacity through expanding infrastructure at its main ship-loading terminals in Seattle and Tacoma to be able to handle bigger ships and improve cargo velocity. NWSA also plans to consolidate its international container terminals to two large terminals in North Port Seattle, and two or three large terminals in Tacoma, the South Port.

The Journal of Commerce notes that in 2019 there was a continued gradual decline in container volume handled by the dominant West Coast ports and gradual increase by East Coast ports. West Coast ports handed 62 percent of imports from Asia, down from 67.2 percent three years earlier; the East Coast was 32.9 percent compared to 30 percent in 2015. Gulf ports handled 4.8 percent last year, up from 2.5 percent.

NWSA would like to stem that gradual migration to the east, as well as increasing traffic handled by Canada’s ports.

Vancouver
The Port of Vancouver, B.C. recently reported it recorded its second-highest cargo volume in 2019, in spite of all of the trade conflict challenges that set shipping back at most other gateway ports.

The port handled 3.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in containers in 2019, up just a bit over 2018. Global demand for Canadian grain was strong, the port indicated, with a record 28.3 MMTs handled in both containers and bulk – up 3.5 percent from 2018. That came despite a reported 37.3 percent drop in canola exports to China due to a tariff dispute.

Several SSGA container exporters ship through Vancouver, using CN or CP railroads to get there. An expansion project is underway at the port’s Centerm Terminal.

Milwaukee
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers last week announced a grant to support a major new agriculture commodity vessel transloading facility to be built at the Port of Milwaukee.

The DeLong Company, one of the U.S.’s largest commodity and specialty soybean exporting companies, is constructing a $31.3 million facility, which the port says will be the first of its kind on the Great Lakes.

Initially the transload operation will handle distillers dried grains (DDGS) for export via bulk vessels. It will also be able to handle other bulk grains, including corn, soybeans and wheat.

USDOT’s MARAD awarded a $15.9 million Port Infrastructure Development grant for the project. Evers announced a $4.9 million Wisconsin Harbor Assistance Program grant from the state.

“The diversity of Wisconsin’s agriculture industry is our strength, and part of our international appeal,” Evers said. “Our state’s agribusinesses rely on finding markets for the high-quality products our farmers produce. This grant connects the dots between our agricultural producers, state agencies, and businesses like DeLong that serve our agricultural community.”

Tonnage handled by the Port of Milwaukee was up 11 percent from 2018 at 2.6 million tons.

Duluth
The Duluth Seaway Port Authority announced it has been awarded a $10.5 million MARAD grant to help fund construction of a new 56,000 square foot, rail served warehouse at the Clure Public Marine Terminal; and to rehabilitate 1,775 lineal feet of deteriorating dock walls at Berths 10 and 11 at the terminal.

“We are incredibly excited by the award of the PIDP grant and we thank (MN) Congressman (Pete) Stauber and Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith for their support of this endeavor,” said Deb DeLuca, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority. “The grant supports projects that improve and broaden the infrastructure of the Clure Public Marine Terminal and the value it provides.  These projects will also allow us to expand our service capabilities at our multimodal logistics hub, which in turn helps us support industries throughout the Upper Midwest.”

Duluth Cargo Connect operates the terminal for the port authority, including Great Lakes and ocean vessel loading and unloading, plus the port’s intermodal container rail yard served by Canadian National Railroad. The new warehouse will add to an existing 430,000 square feet of warehouse space at the terminal, which is in high demand by regional businesses.

Los Angeles/Long Beach
The Port of Los Angeles received an $18.2 million MARAD grant to increase its on-dock railyard, expanding the terminals’ capacity by 10 percent, while its next door neighbor, the Port of Long Beach was awarded a $14.5 million MARAD grant to improve rail service capacity and operations at Terminal Island.

Cleveland and Toledo
The Great Lakes ports of Cleveland and Toledo in Ohio, both of which serve agricultural shippers, also received MARAD grants. The Port of Toledo’s Intermodal Project was awarded a $16 million grant to re-construct and upgrade a dock at Midwest Terminals Facility 1, and to develop a liquid transloading facility. The Port of Cleveland received at $11 million grant to rehabilitate two of the port’s main docks.    Cleveland operates the unique Cleveland-Antwerp Express, where Netherlands-based Spliethoff Shipping provides regular, scheduled breakbulk service to Europe and back, including container service – the only scheduled one on the Great Lakes.

Charleston and Savannah
The adjacent Southeast U.S. ports in Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga. also received MARAD grants for improvements. Both ports serve container ag exporters.

Charleston received a grant just shy of $20 million to construct an underwater retaining wall, and to deepen three vessel berths to be able to handle larger container ships, complimenting a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project to deepen the navigation channel to the terminal.

Savannah was awarded at $34.6 million grant to realign, rebuild and deepen its easternmost berth to be able to handle large 14,000 TEU container ships.

Click here to view all of the USDOT MARAD PIDP port grants, which totaled $280 million.