The Northwest Seaport Alliance: shipping gateway to the Pacific Northwest.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Alaska & Pacific Northwest

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Officially The Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) was launched August 4, 2015, and has been in operation since. According to NWSA Communications Director Tara Mattina, many of the financial changes took place January 1. By either date, "It's still fairly new," she says.

It's not just NWSA that's new, but even the idea of ports combining resources instead of competing for them. Mattina says it's the first time this type of partnership has been formed in North America. More than that, there's only one similar situation worldwide, that she knows of: the Copenhagen Malmo Port, "the logistics hub for the Baltic region," a partnership between ports in two different countries--Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmo in Sweden. Mattina says the ports are located across from each other, and so a partnership just made sense.

For Seattle and Tacoma, a similar partnership also seems to just make sense. The ports have competed with each other for many years. "This wasn't good," Mattina says. "We were trading customers back and forth to the detriment of the entire gateway. We were losing market share to Canada and Southern California." The ports worked cooperatively to find a new business model.

How NWSA Works

Merging the two ports wasn't an option, as it "would require changes in state law and other complications," she says. "We came up with another business model that would allow us to participate as one gateway instead of two separate ports."

In essence, the ports have licensed their marine cargo facilities to NWSA to manage. "Each of the ports still owns their marine terminals," Mattina says. One significant benefit of the partnership is how it allows for both ports to benefit from any development of infrastructure at either port. "Instead of the two ports trying to woo one shipping company that's trying to bring in larger ships and investing in both ports just to stay competitive, we as a gateway can say that one terminal is going to be the better fit and invest in that terminal first. Then we can invest in either harbor for further business opportunities to leverage the money, as well."

She says that NWS A is a response to the shipping industry in general. "Competition in the shipping industry is more intense than ever before," Mattina says. "Shipping lines have been losing money for several years. To find ways to save money and gain economics of scale, they've been forming their own alliances and sharing space on ever larger ships."

...