Port of Tacoma: primary port for goods moving to Alaska.

• Author: O'Connell, Dianne
• Position: TRANSPORTATION

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The Port of Tacoma is not only the point of departure for the vast majority of the goods entering the state of Alaska by sea, it is also key to a vital and vibrant supply chain relationship that flows both ways. In fact, Alaska is the Port of Tacoma's third largest trading partner in terms of dollar value, after China and Japan, accounting for t $3 billion worth of trade annually out of $31 billion of total trade in 2010.

"Alaska cargo moving through our port can be two or three times more valuable to our local economy than international containers and cargoes," says Port of Tacoma Commissioner Don Meyer, "because of the local jobs created when the goods are loaded and offloaded, the trucking and other services required and the deep roots many of the employees have in the Tacoma area."

Meyer served as deputy executive director for the Port of Tacoma from 1985 to mid-1999. From 1999 to 2010, he was executive director of the Foss Waterway Development Authority and in 2010 he was elected to the port commission.

The Port of Tacomais an independent municipal corporation created in 1918 by the citizens of Pierce County, Wash. It is governed by a five-member commission elected at-large by county voters.

ALE ALLEGORY

In his capacity as commissioner, Meyer visited Alaska last September to speak at the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce Annual Conference in Talkeetna. As an example of Alaska-Tacoma interrelatedness, he told Alaska State Chamber members the story of how the Port of Tacoma played a key role in getting Ice Axe Ale beer served at the West Rib Pub in Talkeetna and into their hands the evening before. True, the beer was brewed at Glacier Brewhouse in Anchorage, but the brewery ordered the hops from Yakima, Wash. Pacific Alaska Freightways put them on a truck in Eastern Washington and sent them to the Port of Tacoma. The brewer also ordered honey from Wisconsin for the specialty beer.

At the Port, those hops, honey and lots of other things, from food and medical supplies to building materials and cars, were loaded onto a ship for transport to Alaska. Horizon Lines and Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE) have multiple sailings a week between Tacoma and Anchorage. Much of what Alaskans eat, wear and drive comes in on those ships.

The trip took about three days from Tacoma to Anchorage, where the cargoes were unloaded. It's all part of a remarkable year-round "supply chain choreography," Meyer says. Once the hops made the...