The Port of Grays Harbor has been around awhile…a hundred years with the last turn of the calendar. But 2010 probably meant more to this Pacific Northwest port than all the years leading up to it. Why? The Port is in the middle of a remarkable transformation. And as good as 2010 was for Grays Harbor, the future looks much brighter.By George Lauriat, AJOTThe Port of Grays Harbor is located in that “great undiscovered country” - not the Pacific Northwest but the future. If there was any port whose future is now, it is the Port of Grays Harbor. There are so many changes that have occurred in such a small period of time that it is difficult to fairly catalogue what has happened. It’s easy to say that virtually every sector had a record year. In 2010, 106 vessels transported more than 1.5 million metric tons of cargoes and 21,000 autos. Additionally, the Port’s seen over $60 million ($150 million over the past five years) in private investment flow into its infrastructure. But all this still only tells a bit of the story. To put this success in real perspective, consider that five years ago a total of 19 vessels called at the Port of Grays Harbor. The re-Discovered Country Stan Gabara, EVP of Automotive Services for the Pasha Group, a Corte Madera, California based stevedoring company, talks about how discovered or more re-discovered the Port of Grays Harbor is for his company. He told the AJOT that about two decades ago, Pasha Auto Terminal in the Los Angeles/Long Beach port district was under pressure, as marine property values soared along with box traffic. “You can stack eight containers in the same space as an auto,” Gabara related. The need to move sent Gabara on a quest from Mexico to British Columbia to find a new home for the auto business. In doing his due diligence, he stumbled across the Port of Grays Harbor, which back in the day was still active exporting logs, but that business seemed to be in decline. What was remarkable to Gabara, was just how strategic the location of the port was for business. The Port was 18-20 hours steaming closer than the Puget Sound ports, had deep water alongside and wasn’t likely to be targeted as a mega-container port. Although Gabara’s analysis of Grays Harbor had all the components for a favorable new location (nearly a greenfield exercise), a combination of customer interest (most OEMs were accustomed to operating in Southern California) and opportunity resulted in the new facility being opened in San Diego. Then the need to open a new auto facility arose, and Gabara went up to the Pacific Northwest to do his due diligence once again. He couldn’t help but dust off his reports and take another look at the Port of Grays Harbor. The decision this time was to go ahead with the facility. Jeff Burgin, Senior VP of Pasha Stevedores, said of the decision, “That’s what’s good about having a privately held company – we are nimble enough to make quick decisions.” Again Gabara did a pro & con analysis and mostly what Gabara found was that the “cons” really weren’t cons but matters of perception. For example, the perception was that there was no rail access to the Port of Grays Harbor. The reality was that rail access existed and connected (via Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad) to two Class 1 rail services (BNSF and UP). There were many other issues, but it all boiled down to a lack of familiarity. Pasha had a long relationship with Chrysler, and they were interested in using the Grays Harbor facility as an exit point for the burgeoning vehicle exports to China and Asia. Bringing in the OEMs was one thing, but matching that to a service was something else. Fortunately, Partner Shipping (which was bought by Siem Shipping in January) had a unique service that fit right into the services being offered at the Grays Harbor facility. The ro-ro carrier’s NAPA (North America-Pacific) service starts in Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico, goes to Los Angeles then up to Grays Harbor and across the Pacific to South Korea, Japan, China, Australia