Mitsui leaves Seattle for Tacoma

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

29 Dec 2007

In a new blow to the port of Seattle, local news reports say that Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. (MOL) has decided to move its calls to the port of Tacoma. The move is especially 'painful' for Seattle since the Japanese carrier has been calling there ever since the first container facilities came up in the late 1960s. The departure of MOL means another major player is moving from Seattle to Tacoma, following K Line and NYK Line (Nippon Yusen Kaisha) for which the port of Tacoma is building a dedicated $300 million terminal. The move is also a blow for APL Ltd. which owns Eagle Marine Services Ltd., the operator of Seattle's Terminal 5 where MOL's weekly container ships currently call. Each of those ships, which enter the Strait of Juan de Fuca after stopping in Los Angeles, can hold up to 6,350 TEUs. Officials say that MOL moves 4,000 of the 8,000 TEUs that go through Terminal 5 each week, and the upcoming departure means throughput will be cut by a dramatic 50%. Reports quoted sources saying that MOL had grown 'frustrated' waiting for APL to expand Terminal 5 with additional berths and new handling equipment like cranes. Port officials said they had not been made aware of MOL's complaints.  "They didn't say that to us," the port's managing director Charlie Sheldon was reported saying. "That's up to our customer and tenant APL, which has the authority to make that decision anytime – and we're hopeful they're going to be making that decision soon," said Sheldon. According to Herald Ugles, president of the longshore workers' union - Local 19, the departure is taking place primarily because Washington United Terminals, the Tacoma facility MOL is moving to, has undercut Eagle Marine's rates. It is not all gloom for Seattle however, with its port president John Creighton reportedly hinting at the arrival of two new major players in 2008 and officials promising to follow through on expansion plans for terminals 5, 18 and 30 to accommodate booming Asian freight. Creighton and Seattle's new port chief Tay Yoshitani have accused Tacoma of “stealing its customers”, but Tacoma's port commission president Dick Marzano rebutted by saying that it was better for carriers like MOL and NYK to relocate within Puget Sound than to leave its waters entirely.