The seaports in the Vancouver area may combine forces, a move that could make them more formidable competitors to Seattle and Tacoma.
The Vancouver Port Authority and two ports along the Fraser River currently operate independently under a federal mandate to generate profit. Combining marketing and land development should help cut costs, though it's unclear if they can increase productivity compared to Washington's locally chartered ports.
The move could revive the issue of cooperation in Washington between Tacoma and Seattle, which have been rivals since the 1860s. Tacoma still has plenty of room to grow but Seattle, which is seeing a decline in traffic, has agitated for years for consolidation among Puget Sound ports.
At a conference earlier this month in Whistler, the director of Seattle's seaport, Mark Knudsen, said the region's ports will be forced to cooperate when each hits capacity and finds fiercer competition from other parts of the continent. Traffic has recently shifted to Los Angeles as space has become available there.
"The question is if we become local stops or the major international gateway that we aspire to," Knudsen told the Pacific Northwest Economic Region conference. "Shippers will all call in both Canada and the U.S. The question is if they will be big or small ships and how much discretionary goods will come through here."
Cascadia ports should cooperate to improve infrastructure and lower costs. West Coast ports currently move about 3,000 to 5,000 containers per acre each year, compared to a rate of 14,000 to 16,000 for ports in Asia, using virtually the same equipment and software.