・ To keep pace with the growth of international trade, all West Coast ports will have to be enlarged in order to accommodate projected West Coast cargo volume (see Section V.C.3).
The Port is undertaking a $356.4 million Program to expand T18 to enhance its position as a state-of-the-art container cargo facility capable of accommodating Post-Panamax vessels. The Program consists of several separate projects, including: dredging of the shipping channel, addition of new Post-Panamax cranes, and expansion of the terminal facilities at T18, among other projects. The Bond Improvements are one part of the overall Program.
When the renovation is completed, T18 will be one of the most modern terminals at the Port and one of the largest terminals on the West Coast. The expansion will enhance T18's competitiveness in attracting a larger share of the container traffic through the Puget Sound.
A. The Terminal 18 Expansion and Redevelopment Program (the "Program")
1. Site History
T18 is located on Harbor Island at the mouth of the Duwamish River on the south end of Elliott Bay, approximately one-mile southwest of downtown Seattle. The 430-acre manmade island was originally constructed in 1895 and has seen several improvement projects since its original construction. Due to the numerous industrial activities that have taken place on the island, releases of various industrial chemicals and waste have occurred since the island's creation in 1895. As a result of these activities, there are a number of environmental issues associated with the site, as discussed in Section IV.D of this Report.
2. Existing Terminal 18
T18 is an intermodal container shipping terminal, which means that containers are transported to and from the terminal via ship, truck, and rail without needing to be unpacked and repacked. T18 is located on a 106-acre site on the east side of Harbor Island (see Figure 1 ), which is bordered by Elliott Bay, the East and West Waterways, and the Duwamish River. T18 is located between 11th Avenue Southwest and the East Waterway. T18 has 6000 linear feet of berth space, 4,900 feet of which provides five berths for container ships. Equipment consists of a total of eight cranes used to load and unload container ships (two 50-foot gauge Panamax container cranes three 50-foot Post-Panamax cranes, and three 100-foot Post-Panamax cranes). Other facilities include a container yard with 776 plugs for refrigerated containers (reefers); a 28-car capacity intermodal loading yard providing storage for containers unloaded from or waiting to be loaded onto rail cars, a 16-lane inbound truck access gate complex at the south, and a 6-lane outbound gate at the north. Approximately 1,100 feet of wharf at the southernmost end of the site is used for breakbulk operations. Two maintenance and repair shops and three marine buildings are located along the land-side edge of the container apron . A single-track lead on the southeast end of Harbor Island provides primary rail access to the existing intermodal rail yard on T18 (see Table 2). T18 is currently leased and operated by Stevendoring Services of America, Inc. ("SSA"). In July, SSA formed a new affiliate, SSA Terminals LLC ("SSAT') to manage operations of certain terminals, including T18. SSA and SSAT are entering into the Terminal 18 Lease on a joint and several basis.
