It’s not a merger, but in October the Washington state ports of Seattle and Tacoma announced the beginnings of a joint operation they are calling the Seaport Alliance. The alliance will focus entirely on protecting marine cargo market share and growing cargo volumes for Puget Sound.
“Both ports have been losing market share to both the north and the south, mostly the north, over the past 10-odd years,” said Peter McGraw, spokesman for the Port of Seattle. “So we have to begin working together if we want to stay in this game.”
McGraw added that Puget Sound is the third largest container gateway in North America and that combining the forces of the two ports will leverage their strengths, improve terminal infrastructure and make them more competitive.
The Port of Seattle will continue to independently own and manage SeaTac Airport, Fisherman’s Terminal and other entities, and the Port of Tacoma will continue to manage most of its industrial and commercial real estate holdings.
In mid-October, the commissioners from both ports planned on approving an InterLocal Agreement and submitting it to the Federal Maritime Commission for review and approval.
The ports will also embark on six months of due diligence during which teams from both ports will work together to identify business objectives, strategic marine cargo terminal investments and organizational structure for the alliance.
“We’ll be going out to the public for feedback, too, and looking more carefully at how something like this could work,” said McGraw.
John Wolfe, Port of Tacoma’s chief executive officer, is expected to become the CEO of the new Seaport Alliance, which will operate with its own staff. No layoffs are expected at either port.
Ted Flick, the new CEO at the Port of Seattle, told reporters at a news conference that he was enthusiastic about the proposed alliance. “This is one of the best things we could have done right out of the gate,” he said. “It allows us to enjoy the benefits of a merger without the entanglements of that kind of structure.”
