b'12E CEMBER 2025 American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comD ANALYSIS & PERSPECTIVE 7China striking at heart NWSA moving forward with infrastructure upgradesof Europes industrial and innovation modelBy AJOT StaffNorthwest Seaport Alliancement in Terminal 5s capacity is moving ahead with improve- tohandletemperature-sen-By Stuart Todd, AJOTmentstoTerminal5,refriger- sitivecargo.Reeferplugs ated cargo expansion and Inlandprovideelectricalpowerto connections. FReturning from what was hisrerafrnicgeersa ctoedlo rcso tnot athine emrsa,s tm, caoinfourthT hseta N v tlhlie-vteortihsiwt etsotCSehainpao rta tAtainincingitos pEtUim paal rtnteemrs pteor daotu trheesendc eo f( NlasWt wSAee)k , F enet som nictaerdg Eo urowpheialne an cormenpcohse Pdr eosifdth far e,p teor ifsohrmab ale u E satactreo np ohratssthorfe S fWmasmhainnguteoln Mateeantetldecroonnta, iwnielrl sb ea nwoa siti mvpelses teals kl.o Faodr- anedij inTga cwomithataisr ifpfsu sihni nthgefcoormwianrgdinB exgam opr lien, lGanerdm tarann fsirpmosr tsattiillo hna. ve m if roitv eoeesn tns ott ot aktheemaellai- a stroForng pWreashingtonsence in Csh inagricula. And- woitnht hismp dmaunrcees st oc raerdguoc eh aitnsd elninogr minofursa sttrraudce-tural exporters,this s biggest s he ad mits that Europ eexpansionturep.l uIsnw2i0t2h 5t hteh eE UN.WSA handledisc ocriticas e nomyl. i sAs no onet yet of fu lthely o nationn boards 3,156In,5 an98 interviewTEUs with ,534 in with theFreagricunch alturalpproa ch. exportHow- 2,418 French leadinginternatio nnewspaperalwithaEchos states, ndashingtonapples,business traffic , Les nothe, rever, uWer Chance shipsllor Merz, it73 8,0clai64 medTEUin d omChinaestictrawasffic cherries, coming hay thehe s that tooisbe potatoes,awar eandof fotherstriking ut the p oof imbalanc esto th acustomerslargely to Aatla skthea. Bheart rtsathelso products t exist withCacrosshina. handled a cindustrialonsiderabl eand am ouinnont o-f and around world. gueEuropean AsiaMacron goes theontoar Thevation lkcargo , which327,5 7has4mhis-thatthepath tocapacity bal- breakb umodel, tin expanded reeferrestoring means 2025 alo nbeeng wi tbasedh 470, 9on06 machine vehicles exportersEurope Chinatorically ance betweencanmove and higherin thesandameyear.volumesthroughTerminal toolsautomobiles,addingrequires efforts on both sides. 5 PresidentwithTtherump trafs-plugthat To keep paceDonald withoutFirs t, worryingEurope m usaboutt re-co mmitprotectionist stancewas only toapolicyoconstrainingfictheNWSAcompleted two availability fcompetitiv entheiress,making matters worse. proj- (UPGRADES continued on strategicinfrastructure(STRIKINGcontinued on ects Theat Terminal 5 that position is page 12) Steel coils are displayed at a NWSA completed two strategic infrastructure projects at American response page 20) ThyssenKrupp steel factory in Duisburg, Germany Terminal 5 REUTERS/Leon Kuegelerinappropriate andthe cargo-facilitypremier ter- asaexacerbatesminalforagriculturalexportsour problems byredirectingChinese flows massively our- while improving regionaltotrans portationimpacts.Terminal markets, Macron pointed out.5operated bySSAAs a result,weareTerminals caughtbetween two,anditisa(SSAT), basedthe in Seattle, Wash- ingtonofislifeone andthe largest US- matter of death for European industry. We have become container terminal operators. the adjustment termina l andin vthatest- Thetwomarket,is the worst-case scenario.mentsa modernized gate com-plex Thetha EUtdosu trade on-term withinalblesdeficitChina capac andsurthe- truckqisu eestimauingted toit yhavepassed of rbillionadditio n300efriger atined2024.con- taine 27 lEuropean ingth ememThe rp ugs,brin gUnion tota-l bers vcannottrade ter-, too er1,5 00set impr ovpolicye including individuallyminalef fictarifiencfs,y, enhancethe,instead abil irepresented t ethefacility beingstytohandl ebym- EU Commission.perature-sensitivecargo,and strenMgtahcerno nt huen dNerWlinSeAdthgaatt eCwhaiy- aas aslreisaed earn idntahger iucnurlitvuarlel eedx pcoormts-. np nersosj eocft si tsa rine duasmtroyn w aTehtietsiveep g asthes inriaoluse ucroopmepalnest.e Neve- feifsfsourets f orto EtheTrethrmeliensas,lh5erMemoadinerendi zhaotpioefnu lP throat- there was still a way to amicably gram, a major upgrade to ensure resolve the unsustainable trade the facility is big-ship ready and surplus between Europe and China competitive in a tight market. The and expressed his willingness to NWSA, along with SSAT, have adopt a give and take approach investedoverhalfofabillion with the Xi Jinping regime.dollars in the Program. However,hehadwarned theChinesethatiftheydid M odernizedg ateC oMPLexnot respond, Europe would be i MProveSt raffiCf LoWforced, in the coming months, The new $14.6 million gate totakedecisiveactionand complexreplacesanoutdated follow the example of the U.S., truck queuing area with expanded such as imposing tariffs on Chi-capacityandadvancedtechnol-nese products.ogydesignedtoincreasetruck Macronindicatedthathe throughputintotheterminal. had discussed this with the Pres-The new complex uses weigh-in-ident of the European Commis-motion scales, eliminating the need sion, Ursula von der Leyen.for a full static stop and adding efficiencytoterminalopera-a utomobiLeS : F irSt - evertions.Thefacilityfootprinthas t raded eFicitbeenstrategicallyrelocatedfur-In 2025, for the first time, therintotheterminal,incorpo-Europe will have a trade deficit ratinganimprovedtrafficflow withChinaintheautomobile design that allows trucks to move sector, and the situation is dete-moreefficientlywhiledoubling riorating even more rapidly for thenumberofvehiclesthatcan automotivepartsaccordingto queue on terminal.OEM sub-contractors.The projects benefits extend Andthisdevelopmentis well beyond the terminal gates. By notjustdowntothesteady doubling the on-terminal queuing growth in Chinese car volumes capacity,theinvestmentsignifi-heading for markets in the EU cantly reduces truck backup that andtheUKbutalsoexports previously spilled onto SW Spo-ofvehiclessuchastheBMW kaneStreet,amajorfreightand Mini,VolkswagenCupraand commutercorridorservingthe Tesla Model 3 made in China Duwamishindustrialareaand - a result of Western manufac-West Seattle community. turersseekingoutlower-cost manufacturing conditions.r efrigeratedC aPaCityAs recently as 2022, the bal-e xPanSionancewaspositive,inEuropes Theadditionofrefriger-favor, at 15 billion.ated container plugs brings the total to over 1,500, represent-e veningo ut thep LayingF ieLdingW trialen sfMoramcraotnionah haalsinnvaielsetd-'