Jul 26, 2007 9:42 AM

The Port of Tacoma WA plans to build a $300 million, 168-acre container terminal on the industrial east side of Tacoma’s Blair Waterway. This terminal will be leased to a container terminal operator, Yusen Terminal Tacoma Inc (YTTI), a wholly owned subsidiary of NYK Line. The lease agreement will introduce YTTI to the Pacific Northwest. Another subsidiary of NYK Line, Yusen Terminals Inc (YTI), is operating a terminal in the Port of Los Angeles CA.

This $300 million project is projected to generate about 3,000 construction jobs during its two-year construction timeframe. Based on the capacity of the new terminal, about 3,200 new jobs will be created throughout Washington state. In terms of total economic “ripple effect,” the terminal likely will impact about 5,800 jobs throughout Washington state.

The YTTI terminal is expected to open in 2012. Designed for an annual throughput capacity of 1.4 million to 1.8 million TEUs (20-foot container units), the terminal will include a 24-acre intermodal rail yard and a 2,400-foot berth on the 51-ft-deep Blair Waterway. The facility will feature up to eight super post-Panamax container cranes and initial design concepts favor rubber tire gantry operations.