The Port of Olympia is the southernmost deep-water port on Puget Sound. It handles breakbulk, project cargo and even live animal shipments.
As a niche port, Olympia is chiefly noted for log exports to Asia. In 2018, the Port finished with similar log and lumber volumes as 2017, at 117 million board/ft Olympia handled 22 vessels, but had only one general cargo vessel carrying cattle in 2018 as opposed to 4 in 2017. With the tariff issues, especially in the China market, the Port is expecting logs to remain flat again in 2019. In 2016 and 2014 the Port exported nearly 140 million b/ft to the Asian market.
The Port of Olympia also started the year with a new director. Late last year, Sam Gibboney was chosen to head the Port of Olympia. Gibboney was the executive director of the Port of Port Townsend for two years. Before that, she worked for San Juan County as director of community development, director of environmental resources and deputy director of public works. Gibboney began work Jan. 22, 2019 and will be paid $175,000 a year, according to the Port of Olympia release.
One of the type of shipments that makes the Port of Olympia standout as a breakbulk port is the movement of live animals. A great example happened during February 2019. The Devon Express made port during a heavy snowstorm to transport over 1600 cattle to Vietnam from ranches in California and Idaho.
The black and white Holstein cattle were loaded on trucks at ranches in California and Idaho for a trip to Schorno Agri-Business in Yelm. There they were given a final inspection by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) veterinarians and were loaded up for a 40-minute trip to the Port of Olympia.
The cattle ship, the Devon Express, previously inspected by the USDA and loaded with bedding and feed at the Port took the cattle to Vietnam. The Holstein cattle will be used to produce milk for Vietnam, as well as serve as breeding stock to help build up their dairy industry.
