Bainbridge Island, Washington
Bainbridge Island is a city and island in Kitsap County, United States, located in Puget Sound. The population was 24,522 at the 2017 census, making Bainbridge Island the second largest city in Kitsap County. In July 2005, CNN/Money and Money magazine named Bainbridge Island the second-best place to live in the United States. In August 2013, Bainbridge Island was recognized by Google with an eCity Award; this award recognizes the strongest online business community in each state. The local newspapers are the Bainbridge Islander. For thousands of years, members of the Suquamish tribe and their ancestors lived on the land now called Bainbridge Island. There were nine villages located on the island. In 1792, English explorer Captain George Vancouver spent several days with his ship HMS Discovery anchored off Restoration Point at the southern end of Bainbridge Island while boat parties surveyed other parts of Puget Sound. Vancouver spent a day exploring Rich Passage, Port Orchard, Sinclair Inlet, he failed to find Agate Passage and so his maps show Bainbridge Island as a peninsula.
Vancouver named Restoration Point on May 29, the anniversary of the English Restoration, in honor of King Charles II. In 1841, US Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes visited the island while surveying the Northwest. Lt. Wilkes named the island after Commodore William Bainbridge, commander of the frigate USS Constitution in the War of 1812. Bainbridge Island was a center for the logging and shipbuilding industries; the island was known for huge and accessible cedars, which were in demand for ships' masts. The original county seat of Kitsap County was at Port Madison on the north end of the island. In 1855, the Suquamish tribe relinquished their claim to Bainbridge Island by signing the Point Elliott Treaty; the Suquamish agreed to cede all of their territory to the United States in exchange for a reservation at Port Madison and fishing rights to the Puget Sound. The first generation of Japanese immigrants, the Issei, came in 1883. During World War II, Japanese-American residents of Bainbridge Island were the first to be sent to internment camps, an event commemorated by the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial, which opened in 2011.
They were held by the US government through the duration of the war for fear of espionage. Many Filipinos who assisted the Japanese farmers were left to operate the strawberry fields, which they did successfully. Filipino farmers went north to locate First Nations families to work in the fields. Many romances arose from the berry fields and the birth of the Indo-Pinos emerged; the city of Bainbridge Island has occupied the entire island since February 28, 1991, when the former City of Winslow annexed the rest of the island. Since the 1960s, Bainbridge Island has become an affluent bedroom community of Seattle, a 35-minute ride away on the Washington State Ferries. Bainbridge Island was formed during the last ice age—13,000 to 15,000 years ago—when the 3,000-foot-thick Vashon Glacier scraped out the Puget Sound and Hood Canal basins. Bainbridge Island is located within the Puget Sound Basin, east of the Kitsap Peninsula, directly east of the Manette Peninsula and west of the City of Seattle; the island is five miles wide and ten miles long, encompassing nearly 17,778 acres, is one of the larger islands in Puget Sound.
Bainbridge Island shorelines border the main body of Puget Sound, a large protected embayment, Port Orchard Bay, two high-current tidal passages, Rich Passage and Agate Pass. The island is characterized by an irregular coastline of 53 miles, with numerous bays and inlets and a significant diversity of other coastal land forms, including spits, dunes, cuspate forelands, tide flats and tidal deltas and rocky outcrops; the high point is 425-foot Toe Jam Hill. On the Kitsap Peninsula and Poulsbo lie across the Port Orchard channel to the west, the city of Port Orchard lies across Rich Passage to the south; the island is known for its popular Chilly Hilly bicycle ride every February. This ride has been the unofficial start to the bicycling season in the Pacific Northwest since 1975. Bainbridge Island is connected to the Kitsap Peninsula by the Agate Pass Bridge, carrying SR 305 over Agate Passage; the only other public way off the island is by the Seattle–Bainbridge ferry, the Washington State Ferries service from the dock at Winslow in Eagle Harbor to Colman Dock in Seattle.
According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $88,243, the median income for a family was $108,605. Males had a median income of $65,853 versus $42,051 for females; the per capita income for the city was $37,482. About 3.0% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.8% of those under age 18 and 3.3% of those age 65 or over. The socioeconomic profile varies between the rural parts of the Island and Winslow-its urban center. In contrast to the Bainbridge Island as a whole, Winslow is home to households with a wide range of incomes. In 2010, the census block group in which Winslow is located had a median household income of $42,000, less than half of the Island's median household income and one-third of several of the Island's wealthiest block groups, $10,000 less than national and statewide averages. More than half of Winslow h
Sonics Arena
Sonics Arena was a proposed multi-purpose arena to be constructed in the SoDo neighborhood of Seattle, United States. The arena would have hosted basketball, ice hockey, concerts; the proposal called for an arena with a capacity of around 19,000 to 20,000 seats. It was part of a larger plan to return the Seattle SuperSonics franchise, along with adding a potential National Hockey League franchise, to the city of Seattle; the proposal was rejected in favor of redeveloping KeyArena into Seattle Center Arena. The largest arena by seating capacity in the greater Seattle metropolitan area is KeyArena. Called the Seattle Center Coliseum, the arena opened in 1962, it was remodeled and took its present name in 1995. KeyArena was the home of the SuperSonics from 1967 to 2008, the duration of the NBA team's existence in Seattle; the SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma. In 2008 and are known as the Thunder; the KeyArena was the home of the minor professional Western Hockey League Seattle Totems from 1963 to 1975.
KeyArena was home to the Seattle Thunderbirds of the major junior Western Hockey League from 1977 to 2009. In 2009, the Thunderbirds relocated to the ShoWare Center in nearby Kent. Several professional hockey teams have played in Seattle since 1915; the first was the Seattle Metropolitans, who played in the Seattle Ice Arena from 1915-1924 and became the first American team to win the Stanley Cup in 1917. Other professional hockey teams included the Seattle Eskimos, Seattle Ironmen, Seattle Bombers, Seattle Americans. KeyArena's current tenants include the Seattle Redhawks athletic program, the Women's National Basketball Association Seattle Storm, the Rat City Rollergirls. KeyArena hosts concerts, professional wrestling, other events. Other arenas in Seattle include the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, home of the Washington Huskies. Comcast Arena, in Everett, is the home of the IFL’s Everett Raptors and the WHL’s Everett Silvertips. A key reason given for the Sonics relocation to Oklahoma City in 2008 was KeyArena’s small size and lack of amenities.
Before moving the team, the SuperSonics' ownership group proposed that a new arena be built in Renton using $500 million in public funds, but an agreement was not made. In an attempt to keep the Sonics in Seattle, a group of investors led by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer promised to pay half of the $300 million needed for a proposed remodel of KeyArena, but an agreement was not reached. On January 21, 2013, the Sacramento Kings were sold to a Seattle-based ownership group, on the condition that the NBA Board of Governors approve the sale to San Francisco hedge fund manager Chris Hansen; these reports were by Hansen, the Maloof family, the NBA. However, on May 15, 2013, the NBA voted 22-8 to reject the Kings' proposed relocation to Seattle; the day after the NBA's decision, the Maloof family reached agreement to sell the Kings to a group led by Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur Vivek Ranadivé for a record NBA franchise valuation of $535 million and the team stayed in Sacramento. Despite the failed attempt to move the Kings, Hansen's plans to bring an NBA team back to Seattle by expansion, are continuing.
In late 2011, the City of Seattle was approached with a proposal to build a multipurpose arena in an industrial zone south of CenturyLink Field and Safeco Field. The total cost of a new arena had been estimated to be $490 million, the investment group had proposed a direct public investment of up to $200 million to be repaid by ticket surcharges, split between the City of Seattle and King County; the investors had agreed to pay any construction shortfalls and for improvements to KeyArena, which would serve as a temporary home for both a new NBA team and a new NHL team while the arena was being built. On February 16, 2012 Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and King County Executive Dow Constantine announced an agreement with the Hansen's investment team; the Mayor and Executive forwarded a memorandum of understanding was forwarded to the Seattle City Council and the King County Council for further review and approval. On April 5th, 2012, the Port of Seattle and the Seattle Mariners Baseball club sent a letter to the Seattle City Council objecting to the location of the arena, citing traffic issues affecting freight mobility at the port, scheduling conflicts with Mariners' games, gentrification of the "industrial waterfront".
On July 30, 2012, the King County Council approved the draft Memorandum of Understanding that Chris Hansen, Mike McGinn, Dow Constantine proposed. Earlier that day the Seattle City Council had declared the MOU unacceptable in its current form with the intent to renegotiate. On September 11, 2012, the Seattle City Council reached a tentative agreement with Chris Hansen to build a SoDo basketball and ice hockey arena with revisions including the base rent being reduced from $2 million a year to $1 million, some tax revenue paying for surrounding transportation improvements and KeyArena renovations, a study for alternatives for the redevelopment of KeyArena, an added five-year personal guarantee of bond debts from Hansen. On September 24, 2012, the Seattle City Council approved the memorandum of understanding for the proposed SoDo basketball/ice hockey arena. On October 15, 2012, the King County Council voted unanimously in favor, while the Seattle City Council voted 7–2 to approve the amended SoDo multipurpose arena proposal.
On August 12, 2014, major investor Steve Ballmer left the Sonics Arena investment team to purchase the Los Angeles Clippers. Ballmer purchased the Clippers for a record $2 billion, his departure was a devastating double bl
Port of Kobe
The Port of Kobe is a Japanese maritime port in Kobe, Hyōgo in the greater Osaka area, backgrounded by the Hanshin Industrial Region. Located at a foothill of the range of Mount Rokkō, flat lands are limited and constructions of artificial islands have carried out, to make Port Island, Rokkō Island, island of Kobe Airport to name some. In the 10th century, Taira no Kiyomori renovated the Ōwada no Tomari and moved to Fukuhara, the short-lived capital neighbouring the port. Throughout medieval era, the port was known as Hyōgo no Tsu. In 1858 the Treaty of Amity and Commerce opened the Hyōgo Port to foreigners. After the World War II pillars were occupied by the Allied Forces by United States Forces Japan. In the 1970s the port boasted, it was the world's busiest container port from 1973 to 1978. The 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake diminished much of the port city's prominence when it destroyed and halted much of the facilities and services there, causing ten trillion yen or $102.5 billion in damage, 2.5% of Japan's GDP at the time.
Most of the losses were uninsured, as only 3% of property in the Kobe area was covered by earthquake insurance, compared to 16% in Tokyo. Kobe was one of the world's busiest ports prior to the earthquake, but despite the repair and rebuilding, it has never regained its former status as Japan's principal shipping port, it remains Japan's fourth busiest container port. Container berths: 34 Area: 3.89 km² Max draft: 18 m Meriken Park Kobe Port Tower Harborland Busan, South Korea: twice a week Shanghai, China: once a week Tianjin, China: once a week Kobe is a home port for certain cruise ships. Cruise lines that call at port are kinds like Princess Cruise Line. In the summer of 2014 Princess will expand the market in Kobe when their ship Sun Princess sails eight-day roundtrip Asia cruises from the port; these cruises on the Sun Princess are a part of Princess Cruises $11 billion contribution to the entire country of Japan, where the Sun will sail from Otaru, Hokkaido, as it is based in Yokohama, Tokyo.
Rotterdam port, Netherlands - 1967 Seattle port, United States - 1967 Tianjin port, China - 1980 Kolkata port, india-1951 List of busiest container ports List of East Asian ports List of world's busiest ports by cargo tonnage Kobe Ports and Harbors Office
Hiram M. Chittenden
Hiram Martin Chittenden was a leading historian of the American West the fur trade. A graduate of West Point, he was the Seattle district engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers for whom the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Seattle, were named, he was one of the first three elected Port Commissioners at the Port of Seattle. He helped found the Pacific Coast Association of Port Authorities known as the Association of Pacific Ports in 1913. Dodds says, "His works on the Yellowstone, the fur trade, on Missouri River steamboating were long recognized as definitive.... His style was formal and undramatic, his works contain a mass of detail. He was typical of the Progressive era of American history in his strong belief in progress and in'the divine mission of the Anglo-Saxon.'" Chittenden was born on October 1858 in Yorkshire, New York. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in June 1884 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers. After advanced study in applied engineering, his tours of duty were in the West, including two in Yellowstone Park.
Yellowstone sparked his lifelong interest in conservation. He reached the rank of Brigadier General in 1910, he died on October 1917 in Seattle, Washington. With the Army Corps of Engineers, Chittenden was in charge of many notable projects throughout the United States: Yellowstone National Park: roadwork, basalt arch at north entrance, single-span bridge across the Yellowstone River. Yosemite National Park: commissioned by the Secretary of the Interior to determine boundary changes Lake Washington Canal Project, Washington His 1902 history of the fur trade has been influential among historians of the West. Chittenden is best known as a scholar with historical volumes, tour guides, poetry: The Yellowstone National Park, Cincinnati: Stewart & Kidd Company, 1895. Chittenden, Hiram Martin; the American fur trade of the far West: a history of the pioneer trading posts and early fur companies of the Missouri valley and the Rocky mountains and the overland commerce with Santa Fe... F. P. Harper. Reviewed by Frances Fuller Victor for the Oregon Historical Quarterly Chittenden, Hiram Martin.
History of early steamboat navigation on the Missouri river: life and adventures of Joseph La Barge... F. P. Harper. Life and Letters of Father de Smet’ with A. T. Richardson, 1905. War or Peace, 1910. Chittenden, Hiram Martin; the Yellowstone national park: historical and descriptive... Stewart & Kidd company. Verse, Seattle: Holly Press, 1916. Chittenden Memorial Bridge Hiram M. Chittenden Locks National Irrigation Congress Dodds, Gordon B. "Hiram Martin Chittenden, Historian," Pacific Historical Review 30#3 pp. 257–269 in JSTOR Dodds, Gordon B. "A Dedication to the Memory of Hiram Martin Chittenden, 1858-1917," Arizona and the West 5#3 pp 182–186 Morgan, Dale L. "The Fur Trade and its Historians," Minnesota History, 10#4 pp 151–156, Don D. "Philosophical and Literary Implications in the Historiography of the Fur Trade," Western American Literature, 9#2 pp 79–104 Le Roy, Bruce, ed.. H. M. Chittenden-A Western Epic-Being a Selection from his unpublished Journals and Reports. Tacoma, Wa: Washington State Historic Society.
Works by Hiram M. Chittenden at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Hiram M. Chittenden at Internet Archive Finding aid to article subject from the Special Collections, Washington State Historical Society
Containerization
Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers. The containers have standardized dimensions, they can be loaded and unloaded, transported efficiently over long distances, transferred from one mode of transport to another—container ships, rail transport flatcars, semi-trailer trucks—without being opened. The handling system is mechanized so that all handling is done with cranes and special forklift trucks. All containers are tracked using computerized systems. Containerization originated several centuries ago but was not well developed or applied until after World War II, when it reduced the costs of transport, supported the post-war boom in international trade, was a major element in globalization. Containerization did away with the need for warehousing, it displaced many thousands of dock workers who handled break bulk cargo. Containerization reduced congestion in ports shortened shipping time and reduced losses from damage and theft. Containers can be made of weathering steel to minimize maintenance needs.
Before containerization, goods were handled manually as break bulk cargo. Goods would be loaded onto a vehicle from the factory and taken to a port warehouse where they would be offloaded and stored awaiting the next vessel; when the vessel arrived, they would be moved to the side of the ship along with other cargo to be lowered or carried into the hold and packed by dock workers. The ship might call at several other ports before off-loading a given consignment of cargo; each port visit would delay the delivery of other cargo. Delivered cargo might have been offloaded into another warehouse before being picked up and delivered to its destination. Multiple handling and delays made transport costly, time consuming and unreliable. Containerization has its origins in early coal mining regions in England beginning in the late 18th century. In 1766 James Brindley designed the box boat'Starvationer' with 10 wooden containers, to transport coal from Worsley Delph to Manchester by Bridgewater Canal. In 1795, Benjamin Outram opened the Little Eaton Gangway, upon which coal was carried in wagons built at his Butterley Ironwork.
The horse-drawn wheeled wagons on the gangway took the form of containers, loaded with coal, could be transshipped from canal barges on the Derby Canal, which Outram had promoted. By the 1830s, railroads on several continents were carrying containers that could be transferred to other modes of transport; the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in the United Kingdom was one of these. "Simple rectangular timber boxes, four to a wagon, they were used to convey coal from the Lancashire collieries to Liverpool, where they were transferred to horse-drawn carts by crane." Used for moving coal on and off barges, "loose boxes" were used to containerize coal from the late 1780s, at places like the Bridgewater Canal. By the 1840s, iron boxes were in use as well as wooden ones; the early 1900s saw the adoption of closed container boxes designed for movement between road and rail. On 17 May 1917, Benjamin Franklin Fitch inaugurated exploitation of the experimental installation for transfer of the containers called the demountable bodies based on his own design in Cincinnati, Ohio in US.
In 1919, his system was extended to over 200 containers serving 21 railway stations with 14 freight trucks. Prior to the Second World War, many European countries independently developed container systems. In 1919, Stanisław Rodowicz, an engineer, developed the first draft of the container system in Poland. In 1920, he built a prototype of the biaxial wagon; the Polish-Bolshevik War stopped development of the container system in Poland. The US Post Office contracted with the New York Central Railroad to move mail via containers in May 1921. In 1930, the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad began shipping containers between Chicago and Milwaukee. However, their efforts ended in the spring of 1931 when the Interstate Commerce Commission wouldn't allow the use of a flat rate for the containers. In 1926, a regular connection of the luxury passenger train from London to Paris, Golden Arrow/Fleche d'Or, by Southern Railway and French Northern Railway, began. For transport of passengers' baggage four containers were used.
These containers were loaded in London or Paris and carried to ports, Dover or Calais, on flat cars in the UK and "CIWL Pullman Golden Arrow Fourgon of CIWL" in France. At the Second World Motor Transport Congress in Rome, September 1928, Italian senator Silvio Crespi proposed the use of containers for road and railway transport systems, using collaboration rather than competition; this would be done under the auspices of an international organ similar to the Sleeping Car Company, which provided international carriage of passengers in sleeping wagons. In 1928 Pennsylvania Railroad started regular container service in the northeast United States. After the Wall Street Crash of 1929 in New York and the subsequent Great Depression, many countries were without any means of transport for cargo; the railroads were sought as a possibility to transport cargo, there was an opportunity to bring containers into broader use. Under auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris in Venice on September 30, 1931, on one of the platforms of the Maritime Station, practical tests were done to assess the best construction for European containers as part of an international competition.
In the same year, 1931, in USA Benjamin Franklin Fitch designed the two largest and heaviest containers in existence anywhere at the time. One measured 17'6" by 8'0" by 8'0" with a capacity of 30,000 pounds
Foreign-trade zones of the United States
In the United States, a foreign-trade zone is a geographical area, in a United States Port of Entry, where commercial merchandise, both domestic and foreign receives the same Customs treatment it would if it were outside the commerce of the United States. Another definition of an FTZ states that it is an isolated and policed area operated as a public utility, furnished with facilities for loading, handling, manipulating and exhibiting goods and for reshipping them by land, water or air. Merchandise of every description may be held in the zone without being subject to tariffs and other ad valorem taxes; this tariff and tax relief is designed to lower the costs of U. S.-based operations engaged in international trade and thereby create and retain the employment and capital investment opportunities that result from those operations. These special geographic areas – foreign-trade zones – are established "in or adjacent to" U. S. Ports of Entry and are under the supervision of the U. S. Customs and Border Protection under the United States Homeland Security Council.
Since 1986, U. S. Customs' oversight of FTZ operations has been conducted on an audit-inspection basis known as Compliance Reviews, whereby compliance is assured through audits and spot checks under a surety bond, rather than through on-site supervision by Customs personnel. There are over nearly 400 subzones in the United States; the U. S. foreign-trade zones program was created by the Foreign-Trade Zones Act of 1934. The Foreign-Trade Zones Act was one of two key pieces of legislation passed in 1934 in an attempt to mitigate some of the destructive effects of the Smoot-Hawley Tariffs, imposed in 1930; the Foreign-Trade Zones Act was created to "expedite and encourage foreign commerce" in the United States. Through World War II, manufacturing activity was allowed only on a limited basis. In 1950, the original act was amended to open up FTZs to manufacturing, but it had little impact until 1980. In that year, Congress again amended the act so that products manufactured in the zones would not be assessed on U.
S. value-added. This ensured that the only tariffs a producer inside the zone selling to U. S. customers would pay, would be on the raw materials imported into the zone. This "integrated" model, which replaced the previous "island" model, spurred growth in the U. S. foreign-trade zones program. U. S. FTZs pose multiple benefits, other than duty deferred and inverted tariff, which companies can use to benefit their bottom line. However, a majority of companies are not utilizing FTZs to their full potential because sometimes the unknown creates uncertainty; some of the benefits of operating a FTZ include: Improved inventory management Automated recordkeeping and document storage Increased visibility of the supply chain Improved cash flow Improved company compliance Lessened U. S. regulatory agency requirements for re-export Inverted tariff benefits exist when the duty rate for the overall finished good is lower than the duty rate of the component parts. Therefore, by manufacturing finished goods within an FTZ, US importers can take advantage of the inverted tariff duty rate, all while keeping manufacturing operations within the US.
Inverted tariff works when an importer with manufacturing authority within an FTZ is allowed to admit their components into the zone duty-free, manufacture the finished good, pay CBP duties on the foreign content in the finished good at the lower duty rate of the finished goods at the time of entry. The importer avoids paying the higher duty rate on the component parts and defers the lower duty payment on the value of the foreign content until the time of consumption in the commerce of the US. Inverted tariff is seen predominantly in the manufacturing industry, benefiting automotive, pharmaceutical, electronics, textile companies and many more. Any company in any industry can apply to be a part of an FTZ. Companies importing to the U. S. on a regular basis and in high volume are the main participants. It is a way to reduce importing costs and save money by participating in special Customs procedures and simplifies processes to run more efficient inventory control systems; the process to register into one used to be lengthy — 9 to 12 months, depending on the industry and if a FTZ is being created or if you are participating in one that exists.
This changed in 2011. Alternative Site Framework provides a streamlined process for foreign-trade zone grantees to expand operations within their given service area. Grantees that have transitioned over to ASF are granted 2,000 "virtual" acres to designate sites within their service area, sometimes as as thirty days; as opposed to the Traditional Site Framework, this ASF option doesn't require a grantee to go through a traditional boundary modification for expansion purposes. Companies now have the option to select between establishing their business in a Usage Driven Site or a Magnet Site. Usage-driven sites are sites within a grantee's service area, that must go through a designation and activation process with the grantee and the Foreign-Trade Zone Board prior to initiating operations. Under ASF, usage-driven sites replace the role that subzones once held – allowing companies to operate under FTZ status while being located outside of what used to be called "general purpose zones" or now known as magnet sites under ASF.
Magnet sites are industrial parks or multi-tenant sites within a grantee's service area, which have been designated by the Foreign-Trade Zone Board. Once a company that's established in said industrial park wants to operate as an FTZ, it must only go through the designation process with the
Port of Tacoma
The Port of Tacoma is an independent seaport located in Tacoma, Washington. The port was created by a vote of Pierce County citizens on November 5, 1918; the Edmore was the first ship to call at the port in 1921. The port's marine cargo operations, among the largest in the United States, was merged with the Port of Seattle's in 2015 to form the Northwest Seaport Alliance; the port started out on 240 acres of land, now owns more than 2,400 acres of land that are used for shipping terminal activity, warehousing and manufacturing. Prior to the establishment of the Port of Tacoma, much of Tacoma's shipping activity took place along Ruston Way and along the mouth of the Thea Foss Waterway, which opens into Commencement Bay and the larger Puget Sound. Tacoma's role as a shipping center dates to 1853, when the first cargo of lumber was shipped to San Francisco. Tacoma's status as a major trading hub was strengthened by the 1873 decision by the Northern Pacific Railroad to establish its western terminus at Commencement Bay.
Tacoma was chosen over other nearby cities such as Seattle for several reasons: Commencement Bay could dock more than 50 ships at a time, the harbor was deep enough for vessels of any draft, there were miles of tideland waterfront available for expanded port facilities. The United States Army Corps of Engineers straightened the Puyallup River between 1948 and 1950, leading to litigation in the early 1980s over ownership of 12 acres of land in the riverbed; the Puyallup Indian Tribe won their case in federal court. Subsequently, The Puyallup Tribe of Indians Settlement Act of 1989 ceded the Tribe's remaining land claims over 120 acres of the Port of Tacoma, in exchange for $162 million and other benefits; the claims dated to the 1856 Medicine Creek Treaty and the Puyallup's 1856–1857 renegotiation of their reservation boundaries at Fox Island. The reservation still exists and includes at least the Port's land between Hylebos and Blair Waterways and the entire city of Fife. On October 7, 2014, the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma announced an agreement to "jointly market and operate the marine terminals of both ports as a single entity," though they were not merging.
Joint operations began with the formation of the Northwest Seaport Alliance on August 4, 2015, creating the third-largest cargo gateway in the United States. The port plays a large international trade role in the Pacific Northwest, is a municipal corporation that operates under state-enabling legislation; each year, the port handles between about 9 and 13 million tons of cargo, more than $25 billion of commerce. Major imports include automobiles and toys, while major exports include grain, forest products, agricultural products. Based on tonnage, the port's largest export is grain that come into the port by rail from the Midwest. In 2010, the Port of Tacoma's top trading partner, based on two-way trade value, was China/Hong Kong. China/Hong Kong was the top partner ranked by volume imported and value imported. Japan was value exported; the top commodities exported, by value, were grains. The top commodities imported, by value, were vehicles and parts, followed by industrial machinery and electronics.
The port is among the top ten largest container ports in North America. Containers hold everything from computers and lawn furniture to frozen meat. Based on container volumes, China is the port's largest trading partner. More than 70 percent of the containers imported through the port move by rail to markets in the Midwest and East Coast; the port is served by the BNSF Union Pacific railroads. Shortline rail service is provided by Tacoma Rail, owned by the City of Tacoma. U. S. Oil and Refining operates an oil refinery in the Port of Tacoma. Oil tankers bring crude oil, refined into a variety of products, including JP-8 jet fuel for McChord Field Air Force base; the refinery and airbase are connected by McChord Pipeline. The port is part of one of the largest superfund federal environmental remediation sites in Washington, the Commencement Bay Nearshore/Tideflats Site; the Port of Tacoma has been working with the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington State Department of Ecology on cleanup efforts at various sites within the larger superfund area.
Port activities are related to more than 43,000 jobs in Pierce County, 113,000 jobs in Washington state. There are more than 70 public ports in the state of Washington; the port is sometimes called the "Gateway to Alaska", handling more than 70 percent of all waterborne commerce moving from the Lower 48 to Alaska by water. Over the last 20 years, the port has invested more than $160 million in projects designed to improve the environment in and around Commencement Bay. List of North American ports List of ports in the United States List of world's busiest container ports Port Militarization Resistance Seattle tugboats United States container ports Port of Tacoma website Phil Lelli Papers. 1933-2004. 10.45 cubic feet. At the Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. Contains records Lelli collected about the Port of Tacoma from 1967-1995
Kobe port, Japan – 1967
Taichung port, Republic of China – 1997
Media related to Port of Seattle at Wikimedia Commons