Tacoma to build TOTE expanded terminal by 2011

Tacoma to build TOTE expanded terminal by 2011 The Port of Tacoma on Friday approved a restated lease with Totem Ocean Trailer Express Inc. that calls for a redeveloped Blair Waterway terminal for TOTE’s Alaska cargo business, the port said.
   Under the lease, which runs through 2034, the port will redevelop the TOTE terminal to 72 acres, allowing TOTE to meet the growing Alaska market for decades to come, Port of Tacoma Commission President Dick Marzano said in a statement.
   TOTE’s opportunity for growth is due to the port’s recently announced agreement with NYK Line to build a 168-acre facility for container terminal operator Yusen Terminal Tacoma Inc. (YTTI), a wholly owned subsidiary of NYK Line. Portions of TOTE’s existing, 47-acre (19-hectare) terminal will be incorporated into the NYK terminal.
   Construction on the $104.3 million TOTE Terminal is scheduled to begin in 2009 and be complete in 2011. YTTI construction will start in 2010 and be complete by mid-2012.
   TOTE operates a roll-on/roll-off service between the ports of Anchorage and Tacoma, moving 53-foot highway trailers directly on and off the vessels. TOTE first began calling in Tacoma in 1976, when port management and the local longshore workforce together marketed Tacoma’s advantages to TOTE executives. Three decades later, more than 70 percent of all waterborne commerce between the lower 48 states and Alaska is handled through the Port of Tacoma on vessels operated by TOTE and Horizon Lines, the Port of Tacoma’s other Alaska carrier.
   Alaska trade comprises 25 percent of the port’s total trade volume. In 2006, TOTE and Horizon Lines collectively handled more than $3.5 billion in goods between Tacoma and Alaska.