It has officially been announced that the Port of Seattle is currently engaging in negotiations with Foss Maritime as a potential tenant on Pier 5, using the terminal as a repair and service hub for Shell Oil vessels going to and from Alaska.

“Basically, from my perspective we had a task from the commission to go out and find interim temporary uses at T-5 while we are doing the designs and permitting and construction phase to get “big ship” ready, so when we were out soliciting a variety of different business opportunities we had a couple of prospects with Foss come up, that are really good prospects, a good fit, and they fit the time window, they fit in alignment with the port’s mission and central agenda,” explained Linda Styrk, the Managing Director of the Seaport Division with Port of Seattle.

At the moment nothing is set in stone, with a decision on the lease expected to be announced during a commission meeting on Tuesday Jan.13. Other announcements will concern the progress of the Terminal 5 modernization project (which has reached 30% design) as well as provide updates on the Seaport Alliance which was announced in October.

News of the pending negotiations was leaked last Thurs. from a “high ranking” source within the Port of Seattle garnering a myriad of reactions and concerns.

“The very attractive thing about this project is that the temporary work can be there while our construction of T-5 proceeds,” explained Peter McGraw, Media Relations Officer for the Port of the proposed use by Foss.

According to Styrk and McGraw a portion of the property would be used for mooring, staging, loading and unloading vessels from the Shell Oil fleet for a period of two years, with an option for longer leasing periods down the line. As has been noted by other affiliates these vessels would include ice-breakers, tugs, drill rigs, environmental-response vessels and barges which do seasonal work in Alaska.

When asked about the concerns possible environmental groups and citizens may have about the proposed lease Styrk replied “we provide commercial moorage in and around the harbor, that is what we have been doing for a century plus now, and you know we’re not getting involved in their activities. Once they leave Puget Sound then they are doing what they normally do up in Alaska. And, again this is exploration, that is what we understand their activities will be during this short term temporary period that we’re looking at for providing this moorage opportunity”.

“That’s not to say there isn’t a myriad of viewpoints on all of this,” she added.
To bolster this point McGraw added “we have reached out to elected officials and some environmental groups and just explained to them our position and that this means hundreds of family wage jobs for the region and they get that.”
“Temporary” is truly the optimal descriptor for the Foss deal as Styrk and McGraw emphasized that modernizing Pier 5 for cargo containers again is the long game.

“Our priority, our number one top strategy is getting 5 up and running again as a container terminal. We’ve put a lot of money in that as a container terminal, it has the best on-dock rail in the Puget Sound and that’s where we want to skewer the investment,” explained Styrk.

Construction on the dock would include new “Super Post-Panamax” sized cranes, a dredging project to even out the depth off the dock to 52 feet ( a project in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers), and new berthing structures. Reinforcing the dock to accommodate the weight of the max-sized cranes as well as the requisite power upgrades will be essential. The end goal will be for Pier 5 to handle two Panamax sized ships off the dock at a time, with cranes capable of reaching 22 to 24 containers across.

As McGraw explained: “The goal here at Pier 5 is to make it “big ship” ready. We’re responding to global pressures of the larger ships that are coming online. We’re going to be seeing 13,000 and 14,000 TEU [twenty-foot equivalent vessels that are going to be calling west coast ports, and we want to compete for that cargo”.