Top Trans-Pacific Carriers and Ports
Special Report the NWSA’ s neighbors to the north, rose 3.9 % and 8.6 %, respectively, during the same period, according to data from their port authorities.
By standardizing as much of its container terminal operations as possible— e. g., trucker appointment systems and earliest return dates— and expediting the movement of containers from vessels to on-dock intermodal trains, NWSA can improve its time-to-market advantage and“ separate ourselves from the typical landlord port,” Wolfe said.
West Coast ports, as well as New York-New Jersey, are landlord ports that build the terminals and lease them to private sector terminal operators. Ports along the Southeast US coast and in Houston are operating ports, meaning they manage the facilities and hire International Longshoremen’ s Association labor.
Inland imperative
With exports from China and North Asia steadily shifting to Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, thereby improving the competitive position of East and Gulf coast ports, it is imperative for West Coast gateways to reduce the time it takes for containers to reach inland destinations, according to Dan Smith, principal at the consulting firm Tioga Group.
“ Part of what’ s going on is a loss of West Coast market share to the Southeast and Gulf ports,” Smith said.“ There’ s nothing the West Coast can do about those geopolitical factors.”
The principal inland destination for imports landing on the West Coast is Chicago. Because the Pacific Northwest already has the geographical advantage of shorter vessel transits from Asia, the NWSA is primarily focused on reducing the time it takes to get boxes off the ships and onto eastbound intermodal trains, said COO Jeff Bellerud.
To that end, the NWSA is collaborating with carriers to stow high-priority rail-destined containers on vessels in Asia so they are the first to be discharged from the ships when they dock in Seattle-Tacoma and with individual terminal operators to prioritize the movement of those boxes once discharged.
Wolfe cited Husky Terminal in Tacoma as an example of the NWSA’ s evolving role as a hybrid landlord-operating port. Husky hires International Longshore and Warehouse Union( ILWU) labor to work the vessel, yard and gate, while the port authority arranges ILWU labor for the on-dock rail operation.
Mark Sisson, vice president and senior port planning analyst at the infrastructure engineering and consulting firm AECOM, cautioned that although this hybrid setup makes sense from an operational perspective, it requires“ buy-in from all five terminals” in Seattle and Tacoma.
“ We can separate ourselves from the typical landlord port.”
“ I assume the private terminal operators like to be doing what they’ re doing,” Sisson said.“ To give away activity they’ ve historically controlled, to give this away to somebody else, it seems like a difficult sell.”
That collective buy-in has been difficult to accomplish in other areas as well. For example, SSA Marine, which operates both container terminals in Seattle, has been closing one facility on Mondays and the other on Fridays since April, much to the chagrin of the NWSA, which would prefer all its terminals offer consistent shifts five days a week. SSA declined to comment, but Tioga Group’ s Smith said the reduction in gate hours was a natural response to declining volumes.
“ It will be tough to convince SSA to stay open if they can’ t recover their costs,” he said.
Bellerud said the NWSA is also working with its
Imports through Seattle( pictured) and Tacoma tumbled 15.2 % through May. Amenohi / Getty Images www. joc. com July 6, 2026 | Journal of Commerce 19