b'44American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comGLOBALcontinued from page 42)production at Boeing grind to a halt on September 13, halt-ing shipments and creating a huge revenue hit across the supply chain. Though an agreement saw the West Coast strikeendshortlybeforeAJOTwenttopressinmid-November, 236 local aerospace suppliers in the area were affected by the shutdown.Boeings the largest exporter in the nation and all theiroversizedcargo,includingtheircommercialand military derivatives, all come through the Port of Everett. So, when they struggle, we all struggle.Fortunately, the port was able to make a name for itself during the COVID pandemic and has succeeded in diversifying its cargo mix. The pandemic helped put us on the map, because shippers were looking for alter-natives, says Lefeber. We were fast and easy to work with, so we were able to fill that gap, especially for the oversized containers. Because all the Boeing parts are so oversized, we had the right 53-foot spreaders to be able to handle them. We were one of only a few ports on the coast that had them at the time, so we saw a 400% increase in our over-sized container volumes during that period.e xPAnsiOnm ilestOneThe ports long-hoped for acquisition of the former Kimberly-Clark mill in Everett was realized in mid 2020The Port of Everett has two heavy-lift mobile harbor cranes with 100-ton and 150-ton mobile capacity. an important milestone for port expansion. The site was heavily contaminated yet, within 18 months, Port ofwith direct access to the BNSF rail line to the Midwest. down areaits exclusively for breakbulk.Everett was able to clean it up and open Norton TerminalEverett is regularly called on by Swire Projects, theWeve obviously got our aerospace business, buta 40-acre cargo terminal thats almost doubled Everettsprojects and heavy-lift shipping arm of Swire Shipping,weve also got the capacity to handle pretty much what-cargo handling capability.which launched a dedicated semi-liner service connect- ever anybody needs. So, wind energy, whether its off-During 2020, we removed 14,000 dump truckloadsing East Asia with the West Coast of North America inshoreoronshore,steel,breakbulk,thingsthatrequire of contaminated debris from the sitewe did all of thatNovember 2023.larger lay down areaswe can do all of that.during the pandemic, recalls Lefeber.Previously offered on an ad hoc basis, the service Weve got state-of-the-art smart stormwater man- supports what Swire calls growing demand for reliables trAight shOt tOc AnAdAagement technology in there, plus a significant amount ofbreakbulk and project cargo transportation into the WestLike other ports in the Pacific Northwest, Everett electrical infrastructure. So, for future electric tugs or anyCoast, and on to the interior of the U.S., avoiding thehandles a substantial amount of Canadian-bound cargo. other equipment, were really built for it. need to route cargo via the Panama Canal. We do quite a bit of business with Canada, absolutely. The ports facilities include four shipping terminalsWereprobablydifferentthanalotofcontainerGiventhefreightroutes,wehaveastraightshotto comprisedofeightberths,two100-foot-gaugePost- ports, says Lefeber. Large container ports often wantCanada, via rail or truck, using specialized heavy haul Panamax gantry cranes, heavy-lift mobile harbor cranesquick throughput. Our workforce, however, is skilled atroutes on the highways. So, were well suited to support with 100-ton and 150-ton mobile capacity, as well as overhandling the cargo that takes more time, uses more laythat type of activity.12,000 lineal feet of shipside rail and terminal trackage,downarea. Wevegotaround150acresofcargolay(GLOBALcontinued on page 47)'