Port of Tacoma launches 10-year strategic development plans

TACOMA, WASH. — With a new look and a fresh focus, the Port of Tacoma announced its strategic development plans for the next 10 years. The strategic plan and fresh brand identity mark about a year’s worth of outreach and development with customers, community members, business leaders and employees.

While the strategic plan includes nearly 50 initiatives, the resulting framework calls for four main areas of focus that build on the port’s specific strengths:
• Make strategic investments that enhance waterway, terminal, road, rail and industrial property infrastructure to create the most efficient, productive and cost-effective system possible to move freight to market.
• Create opportunities for future investments by attracting new business opportunities with healthy income streams and increasing diversity of the Port’s business portfolio.
• Demonstrate “best in class” care for business relationships with customers and key stakeholders.
• Grow the Port responsibly to ensure the community continues to support trade-related jobs.

The Port embarked on the strategic plan to position itself for success among significant competitive shifts in the global shipping industry and a still-sluggish U.S. economy. Specific initiatives outlined in the plan include:
• Redevelop and expand the peninsula bounded by the Sitcum and Blair waterways into a highly efficient container terminal capable of handling the world’s largest ships quickly and capably.
• Expand Tideflats rail to receive and deliver mile-and-a-half-long full-unit trains, as well as a second rail crossing over the Puyallup River.
• Develop a new bulk facility on the Blair Waterway.
• Continue working with customers to expand and enhance existing cargo terminals as the market grows.
• Develop future new cargo capacity in partnership with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians.
• Move toward zero-emission technologies at cargo terminals, continue cleaning up contaminated property and restoring critical habitat.
• Take a leadership role in seeing State Route 167 completed from its current end in Puyallup to the Tideflats.

“It’s a hefty list,” Chief Executive Officer John Wolfe said, “and these projects are necessary for the Port to remain competitive. We have high-performing people at the Port, and I am confident we can make it happen.”

Accountability for the strategic plan’s success—10 targets in 10 years—focus on specific cargo volume measures, income for reinvestments, environmental commitments and jobs. See highlights of the strategic plan, measurements and brand identity at www.portoftacoma.com/strategic-plan.