There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic at the Port of Tacoma. The Port’s terminal projects are moving. With a diverse portfolio of services and business segments all beginning to move in the right direction, the recession may soon recede in the rear view mirror.By George Lauriat, Editor-in-Chief, AJOTGenerally, when a port finishes the year with box numbers down on the previous year, there is cause for alarm. This isn’t the case in the Port of Tacoma. There is a genuine feeling around the Port that they’ve weathered the storm and that business is turning about. This is not to say that a return to the days of 2 million teus and160,000 plus auto units is right around the corner…but the prospects for the Port are considerably brighter. In 2010 the Port of Tacoma posted 1.46 million teus, down 6% from 2009 throughput. But as Rod Koon, Director of Communications for the Port of Tacoma, told the AJOT, “there were a number of very positive developments…especially during the second half of 2010,” that makes the authority optimistic. Tong Zhu, Senior Director of the Port’s Commercial Group, said that “ “K” Line’s introduction of larger ships, 5,200 teus ships on its Tacoma service; and Evergreen resuming its UAM service helped the rebound and has the Port headed in the right direction.” The two services helped boost the Port’s second half teu performance by 7% over a languid first half. The Port’s domestic container volumes, which include service to Alaska and Hawaii, (Horizon Lines and Totem Ocean Trailer Express) posted a 2% increase in 2010, as the economies in both states were relatively strong compared to the “lower forty-eight”. The optimism seems well founded as through February the Port has handled 221,773 teus, an increase of more the 14% over last year. The improvement is even better on the international side of the box business with nearly a 23% increase. The Port’s loaded container traffic is relatively balanced, compared to many other West Coast ports. For example, in 2010 loaded (international) inbound boxes totaled 476,476 teus compared to loaded (international) outbound boxes at 337,538 teus. However, the inbound freight tends to be consumer goods that are lighter and, in container terms, cube out. Many of these goods are destined for metropolitan markets in the Midwest and eastern US. Outbound the freight tends to be goods that are heavier and thus “weigh out” rather than cube out. Additionally, consumer goods on the inbound leg are generally more valuable than the outbound freight. The steamship lines put a premium on turning the container to get it back to the Far East to position the asset for another higher value load back to the US or Europe. Another complication in the cargo mix in the Pacific Northwest is that export of temperature sensitive cargoes like fruits, produce and fish that require reefer boxes, are frequently high in demand. The Port’s pushed some very creative solutions to help alleviate some of the equipment imbalances, including various versions of transloading, which in its simplest form puts the freight from three ocean containers into two domestic 53-footers. In some ways the efforts to explore transloading options and to make the most of existing opportunities throughout the Port community reflects the authority’s long-term strategy. As Tong Zhu, said, “Our focus is on existing customers, we want to help them with their challenges, to remove barriers and be cost effective for them.” Another feature of the strategy is building within the greater Port community a diversity of services ranging from rail to cold storage that enables the Port’s customers to look for opportunity throughout the supply chain. A Diverse Portfolio Another reason for the positive outlook at the Port of Tacoma is the diversity of services. Although there is a tendency to dwell on the international box business, as Koon rightly points out, the Port’s diversity took some of the sting out of the recession and has p