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Oakland seaport, airport exempted from Bay Area lockdown

The Port of Oakland isn't impacted by the stay-home order from local officials. (Source: Port of Oakland Authority)

The Port of Oakland and Oakland International Airport will keep operating despite an Alameda County order for residents to shelter in-place in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the port authority said Monday evening.

Six counties in the San Francisco Bay area ordered residents to stay home, with only essential businesses permitted to remain open.

The Port of Oakland is a major port that annually handles more than 2.5 million cargo containers and transacts more than $100 billion in global trade. The Oakland airport is home to a Federal Express hub and a smaller UPS facility. It also handles cargo from combination carriers Alaska Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Norwegian Air and Southwest Airlines. About 14 million passengers fly through Oakland each year.

“Our operations are critical to the health, safety, infrastructure and economy of our region,” said Port of
Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan. “We will continue to function as a vital gateway for global trade and transportation while doing everything possible to protect our employees, customers and business partners.”


The port authority said it would adopt a resilience plan to staff its operations while minimizing employee exposure to coronavirus. Officials are meeting with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to determine what staffing levels are needed on the docks since there has been a slowdown in ocean vessel arrivals after China quarantined major industrial centers, resulting in limited exports in recent weeks. They are also conferring with marine terminal operators on how best to sanitize seaport operations and are asking everyone to practice social distancing. 

Eric Kulisch

Eric is the Supply Chain and Air Cargo Editor at FreightWaves. An award-winning business journalist with extensive experience covering the logistics sector, Eric spent nearly two years as the Washington, D.C., correspondent for Automotive News, where he focused on regulatory and policy issues surrounding autonomous vehicles, mobility, fuel economy and safety. He has won two regional Gold Medals and a Silver Medal from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for government and trade coverage, and news analysis. He was voted best for feature writing and commentary in the Trade/Newsletter category by the D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He won Environmental Journalist of the Year from the Seahorse Freight Association in 2014 and was the group's 2013 Supply Chain Journalist of the Year. In December 2022, he was voted runner up for Air Cargo Journalist by the Seahorse Freight Association. As associate editor at American Shipper Magazine for more than a decade, he wrote about trade, freight transportation and supply chains. Eric is based in Portland, Oregon. He can be reached for comments and tips at [email protected]