With imports down, box totals at Pacific Northwest Ports were flat in 2007 and there are worries what this Peak Season will bring. Yet the Pacific Northwest ports are building for the future and flat results might represent a chance for projects to play catch up in preparation for the next flood of cargo.By George Lauriat, AJOTThe two principle box ports in the US Pacific Northwest are the Washington State ports of Tacoma and Seattle with Portland, Oregon (just south of the Washington-Oregon state line) a distant third in box totals. Both ports lie fairly close to each other on Puget Sound and are connected to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) mainline, which runs north to the Port of Everett before dividing into a rail link running north to the Canadian Pacific ports and east to the US mid-West. Both ports have benefited from their geography, as the BNSF rail connection, ample terminal space and closeness to Asia provide an adjunct or outright alternative to the Southern Californian ports. Still it is more about being a gateway than a destination. As one Pacific Northwest veteran port observer remarked to the AJOT, the population of Los Angeles/Long Beach and is greater than the combined population of all the Northwest States with a few Canadian Provinces thrown in to boot. Like virtually all US boxports, 2007 was a year of mixed results for both the ports of Tacoma and Seattle. For example, the Port of Tacoma topped 2.06 million teus in both 2005 and 2006 before slipping to 1.92 million in 2007. Similarly, the Port of Seattle topped 2 million teus in 2005 and 1.99 million teus in 2006. Last year, the Port slipped to 1.97 million teus. In some ways the results are a little misleading. The Port of Tacoma’s full box totals for international business was 1.14 million, actually up 2.3% over 2006. The real difference in comparing the last two years was that imports were off seven percent and empties an amazing 40%. The huge reduction in empty containers also highlights just how big of change there has been over the last fourteen months for carriers trying to manage box inventories. A comment from representatives of both ports was that they have had to ask the carriers on the behalf of local exporters to address the problem of a lack of boxes for exports. Port of Portland, Oregon, the region’s other main boxport, had an excellent year in 2007. The Port posted 260,128 teus, for the year, an astounding increase of over 21% over 2006. This includes a record 110,741 import containers, in what has been flat year for imports nationwide. Josh Thomas, the Port’s maritime spokesman, said “we didn’t really expect to have this strong a year with Zim pulling out, but the other carriers really stepped up and we added Yang Ming in May.” The lower dollar has done more than promote exports. Tong Zhu, the Port of Tacoma’s Director of Commercial Strategy, noted, “we’ve seen an increasing number of foreign companies interested in investing in facilities in the region.” She added, “many [foreign] manufacturers import their raw materials from here and now are considering moving final assembly to region to save transportation and productions costs.” She noted that with foreign direct investment (FDI) in the port region there is a natural link to the Port that bodes well future traffic. There is a tendency to feature the box traffic but the diversity of business at the Pacific Northwest ports is remarkable. Besides the international moves there is also the “Jones Act” moves to Alaska and the Pacific Islands. There is also a very active cruise ship market that takes in the local scenic beauty and is a jump off for British Columbia and Alaska. Added to that is the Columbia River system barge traffic that makes Lewiston, Idaho the nations loftiest, if not biggest box ports, with a throughput of a little over 16,000 teus annually. Nate Holmberg, spokesman for the Port of Vancouver USA said, “Cargo and service diversity is an important elements to the Port development.” In a sense the s