In Washington State, where one in three jobs is trade-related, the Port of Seattle is a central component of the economy. As operator of the 10th-largest seaport and one of the busiest airports in North America, the port and its tenants collect more than $17.6 billion in revenue yearly and employ upwards of 111,000 people directly and create another 62,000 jobs with annual spending.
But the economic juggernaut and civic marvel that is the modern Port of Seattle is a far cry from the fledgling enterprise that a courageous band of populists launched 100 years ago. Recognized as an asset and resource for centuries by the indigenous population, the natural deep-water port in Elliot Bay became a haven for early Westerners who moved to the area in the 1850s. In 1890 the Great Northern Railway chose Seattle as the terminus for its transcontinental route, spurring economic growth in a trend strengthened by the discovery of gold in Alaska in 1896.
By the early 1900s, Seattle’s waterfront was a maze of piers, canneries, saw mills, warehouses and railroad tracks. But the economic benefits of all this activity did not translate into prosperity for the local community.
In March 1911 the Washington State Legislature enacted laws allowing establishment of port districts, and that September, King County voters in record numbers approved creation of the Port of Seattle, the state’s first public port.
100 years of growth
By 1916 Seattle was the West Coast’s leading port in dollar value of goods shipped. Within two years it was the second-largest port in the nation. In addition to handling cargo moving to and from Asia and Alaska, the Port became a major player in the North Pacific fishing industry, taking on ownership and management of Fishermen’s Terminal in 1913.
After World War II, the Port diversified with expansion of Fishermen’s Terminal, construction of Shilshole Bay Marina, ambitious developments on Harbor Island and along the Duwamish River, and creation of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. In the 1960s, Seattle became one of the first ports in the country to develop terminals specifically geared toward handling containers. In the 1990s the Port emerged as a center for the passenger cruise industry, and as a steward for redevelopment of the city’s central waterfront.
Economic powerhouse
The Port’s scope today is broad, encompassing vital cargo and passenger and seaport services, from running Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to harboring the North Pacific fishing fleet, to providing first-class public marinas and conference facilities and maintaining a necklace of gem-like parks around Elliot Bay.
The Port maintains four major world-class container terminals, with 24 cranes, 11 container berths up to 50 feet deep, along with close proximity to two national rail hubs, and interstate highways within minutes of all terminals for efficient truck access.
Cargo handled at the Port of Seattle’s seaport generates over 135,000 jobs for Washington, and creates more than $2 billion in annual business revenue for the region.
Technically a port district, the Port of Seattle is managed by a five-member commission. Its facilities include the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash., the Shilshole Bay Marina, the Maritime Industrial Center and Fishermen’s Terminal on Salmon Bay, cargo terminals and a grain elevator on Smith Cove, and numerous cargo terminals on Elliott Bay, Harbor Island, and the Duwamish Waterway. The Port also controls recreational and commercial moorage facilities and two cruise ship terminals.
But the Port still pursues its original mission.
“The Port of Seattle’s mission is to create economic vitality,” said Port of Seattle Commissioner John Creighton. “One of the ways we do that is by building transportation infrastructure in the region.”
For example, construction is currently ongoing for a $419 million, 23-acre rental car facility which is scheduled to open in spring of 2012. The project generated more than 3,000 local jobs and nearly $2 million in tax revenue over the life of the project.
Alaska connection
The Port of Seattle’s evolution during the past century into an economic powerhouse is due in no small measure to its enduring economic relationship with Alaska. From Day 1, Alaska has imported a wide range of goods and services, most of it at least passing through the Puget Sound region, including the Port of Seattle.
Ever since the 1890s when Seattle served as the transportation and provisioning gateway for prospectors headed to the Klondike Gold Rush, the Puget Sound region and Alaska have enjoyed a strong trade partnership. Shiploads of gold prospectors clamoring for picks and pack animals and returning with the yellow nuggets and dust they gleaned from the Last Frontier have been replaced by a less colorful but more powerful flow of wealth.
A study titled “Ties that Bind: The Enduring Economic Impact of Alaska on the Puget Sound Region” reported in 2004 that trade with Alaska adds more than $4 billion a year to the Puget Sound regional economy and creates more than 103,000 jobs in manufacturing, fishing, construction, transportation and a host of professional services including accounting, banking, engineering, medical and legal.
The volume of exports to Alaska is substantial. Alaska is the region’s fifth-largest trading partner for local goods (not including aerospace). The Puget Sound region also serves as a primary trans-shipment point for Alaska-bound products produced throughout the United States. The region’s ports and airport help connect the Lower 48 and Alaska, generating jobs for transportation and warehouse workers and a wide variety of support industries.
For goods moving the other direction, the Puget Sound region is the hub for Alaska’s resource-based industries – including seafood, forest and petroleum products, along with manufactured goods such as world-class craft beers – routing products throughout the Lower 48 and to foreign markets including Asia and Europe.
Carrying much of these goods to and from Alaska are barges located on the Duwamish River, and visible throughout Puget Sound. The outbound cargo of these carriers typically includes building materials such as cement and steel, food products, chemicals, and refined oil, along with all of the necessities for living such as automobiles, furniture, medical equipment/supplies, U. S. mail, department store merchandise, household goods, military supplies and equipment, and virtually every other durable and consumable good not grown or manufactured in Alaska.
Barge carriers and related businesses serving Alaska from the Port of Seattle include: Northland, Bowhead Transport Company, Alaska Railbelt Marine, Alaska Marine Lines, Boyer Towing, Alaska Logistics Company, Sea-Tac Marine, Samson Tug and Barge, Coastal Alaska Lines, and Western Towboat.
Fishing fleet homeport
Set on Seattle’s Ship Canal, which links Lake Washington to Puget Sound, Fishermen’s Terminal at the Port of Seattle has been homeport for the North Pacific Fishing fleet for more than 90 years. Fishermen’s Terminal provides moorage for more 700 commercial fishing and workboats. It has 2,500 feet of lineal moorage and 371 individual slips. The facility is also the center of a thriving commercial district with shops, restaurants, banks, marine brokerage houses and more.
In 2003, fishing and fishing-related jobs on Port of Seattle properties employed 11,836 people, indicating the maritime and commercial fishing industry is as vital to Seattle’s economy as it is to its heritage.
The average annual income for commercial fishing industry jobs tied to port properties was about $72,000, according to a 2003 report. Fishing activities based at port facilities generate more than $846 million locally in salaries and wages, more than $83 million in state and local taxes, and more than $113 million in local purchases.
These figures also include related activities at the Maritime Industrial Center near Fishermen’s Terminal and Piers 90 and 91, which serve the large catcher-processor fleets and the cold storage facilities used for the freezing and processing of the catch.
Over the past decade the Port has invested more than $111 million in capital improvements to these three facilities, and it continues to make progress on major upgrades at Fishermen’s Terminal. Such improvements benefit Seattle’s commercial fishermen who use the facilities to moor, repair and outfit their boats.
Tourism anchor
Tourism is another important link with Alaska, most notably illustrated by the many cruise ships departing from the Port’s Bell Street Pier and Terminal 30 Cruise Facilities. Alaska-bound cruises are growing in popularity and offer passengers a chance to see the natural beauty of glaciers and wildlife, and to sample life in Alaska.
The relationship between Seattle and the cruise industry is long-standing, and the Port of Seattle has been there for much of the industry’s 100-plus-year history. Pacific Steamship and Alaskan Steamship companies were just two of the most successful operators of passenger cruises originating in Seattle in the late 1800s. Regular boat service to Alaska began as early as 1867. The steamship companies’ primary business was commerce, and in 1886, the ANCON brought $35,000 in gold from Alaska. By 1917, the Port reported nearly 1.8 million passengers arrived and 1.7 million passengers departed from the Seattle Harbor. The Jones Act of 1920 aided in the success of the two steamship companies, as it prohibited foreign-flagged vessels from transferring passengers and goods between two U.S. ports.
Since 1999, the number of Alaska cruise vessel calls in Seattle has increased from six to 223 per year. Seattle’s cruise business currently leads all U.S. cruise homeports on the West Coast in passenger volume and number of ship calls and is responsible for more than 4,447 jobs, $425 million in yearly business revenue, and nearly $19 million annually in state and local tax revenues.
In 2010, 858,000 cruise passengers passed through Port of Seattle facilities, and for the 2011 cruise season, the Port anticipated 195 cruise ship calls with an estimated 807,300 two-way passengers. Six cruise lines regularly sail to Alaska from the Port: Carnival, Celebrity Cruises, Holland America Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, and Royal Caribbean.
Airborne links to Alaska
Beyond water-borne trade, the Port also connects Seattle and Alaska by air, serving an average 35 departures per day between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Alaska cities.
Sea-Tac Airport, the 25th busiest U.S. commercial service airport, handles 32 million passengers a year and generates $4.3 billion in annual revenue. Located 16 miles south of Seattle and about 20 miles north of Tacoma, Sea-Tac serves 25 airline and cargo service carriers and employs 22,000 airport workers and support 14,000 indirect jobs off site.
Air service between Seattle and Alaska provides a critical link for the movement of passengers and cargo to the 49th state.
Alaska Airlines is the eighth-largest U.S. airline based on passenger traffic and is the dominant U.S. West Coast air carrier. With headquarters in Seattle and its main hub at Sea-Tac, the airline carries more passengers between the state of Alaska and the Lower 48 than any other airline. During recent years, Alaska Airlines has expanded significantly to serve more U.S. East Coast, Mexican and Canadian destinations and now serves 61 destinations.
Long known for its Alaska roots – symbolized by the smiling Alaska Native painted on the tail of the aircraft, Alaska Airlines offers a friendly and relaxed style of service that passengers have come to appreciate as the “Alaska Spirit.”
The carrier traces its roots back to 1932, when Linious “Mac” McGee of McGee Airways started flying his three-seat Stinson between Anchorage and Bristol Bay, Alaska. A merger with Star Air Service in 1934 created the largest airline in Alaska, which eventually became Alaska Airlines.
Today, Alaska Airlines accounts for 29 percent of Sea-Tac’s flight operations. Alaska Airlines and its sister carrier, Horizon Air, are owned by Alaska Air Group. Together, they transport more than 150 million pounds of cargo annually, including seafood, mail and freight.
Much of Alaska Airlines’ cargo operation supports moving goods between the state of Alaska and the Lower 48. Southbound, much of the product is fresh Alaska seafood. The airline transports more than 30 million pounds of fresh Alaska seafood each year from fishing towns throughout Alaska to markets and restaurants across the country. Northbound, Alaska transports a range of products, including U.S. Postal Service mail, essential supplies for remote Alaska communities and personal packages. Alaska operates both all-cargo and combi (part cargo/part passenger) aircraft on these routes.
The airline recently reaffirmed its commitment to serving the cargo and passenger needs of Alaska with a $100 million plan to modernize and increase the capacity of its cargo fleet. It introduced six retrofitted Boeing 737-400 cargo aircraft to its fleet. These aircraft, one freighter and five combis, replace the carrier’s previous 737-200 cargo fleet.
Environment and the future
Since 1970, the port has taken the lead in promoting environmental awareness and conservation in its operation and those of its tenants and is widely recognized for its achievements in sustainability and innovation.
The Port has labeled itself, “The Green Gateway,” for trade and travel. That name evolved from research that showed that Puget Sound ports offer the lowest carbon footprint for cargo shipped by sea from Asia to U.S. markets in the Midwest and East Coast.
The Green Gateway encompasses all of the Port’s environmental programs, from award-winning recycling at Sea-Tac to a clean truck program that is helping to replace the older, polluting trucks that call on the seaport’s cargo terminals. The Port has won numerous accolades, including a national Green Fleet award for its use of biodiesel, CNG and hybrid vehicles and a Clean Air Excellence Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, while Sea-Tac Airport was recognized as North America’s 2010 Environmental Achievement Award Winner by the Airports Council International and the “Best Workplace for Recycling” for the fourth year running by King County’s Solid Waste Management Division.
As the Port of Seattle moves into a second century of operation, it continues to lead the region as a center for trade, transportation and tourism, generating a total of nearly 200,000 jobs, and billions of dollars in business and tax revenues annually.
